Wednesday 29 February 2012

'Maria's New Chair' - Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Saturday Centus - Week 95 - The chair dominated the small room

Jenny Matlock

Welcome to week ninety-five of Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Saturday Centus, a writing challenge in which participants are asked to write a text to a prompt using 100 words or less plus the prompt which this week, is The chair dominated the small room.
(Scroll down past my text to read Mrs. Matlock's instructions)
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This is my text:
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The delivery-man smiled at Maria, as he and his assistent lifted her new chair into the lift. She stepped also onboard to follow them to the sixth floor, and marveled at how the chair dominated the small room. The tiny lift made it look enormous. It was crowded with three people and the chair, when the lift suddenly stopped between floors.

'I'll get help', said one of the men, pressing the emergency button.


But nothing happened for more than an hour, until Maria remembered her mobil phone and called emergency services.

Three hours later, Maria could finally sit down in her new chair. She fell asleep.

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Word count according to WordCalc: 106
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Best wishes,
Anna




First Commenter:Link
Judee
of'
write tuit
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Welcome to week ninety-five of Saturday Centus.


Hi Centusians. I'm anxious to read your autobriefographies! I'm hoping to be all caught up this weekend!

How about a weird but more 'traditional' prompt this week.


This is my picture for the week. Feel free to use a picture of any chair in any room and write your story around that, though.

The prompt this week is: The chair dominated the small room



Number of words: 100 PLUS the six words of the prompt for a maximum of 106 words.
Style of writing: Any
Pictures: As many extra pictures as you like




The regular restrictions apply: PG, no splitting of the prompt, play nicely and visit the other entries, any style or genre of writing you prefer.

Please display my link button or just a hyper-link back to Saturday Centus. Be careful to link your SC URL to the Linky and not just link to your main blog.

E-mail me directly with ???'s or ask your question in a comment and I will do my best to get back to you as soon as possible.

Tina/parltradet has curated a new Etsy treasury:When Life Gives You Lemons # 1






Best wishes,
Anna



First Commenter:
Tanya Walton



of

Allotments 4 you


Monday 27 February 2012

Treasury-round-up for Tina/parltradet from 22nd February 2012



Tina/parltradet is linking up with Rose Clearfield's treasury round up with randomcreative. Click on the image above to visit other treasury round up-posts.

Link
SchickiMickis has included my rainbow bracelets in this colourful treasury:



Link


And here is Andromeda, a gold-coloured twig leather necklace from SchickiMickis shop:



Best wishes,
Anna



First Commenter:
xxx

Thursday 23 February 2012

The Perfect 9.5 - Romantic Friday Writers Challenge No. 32




Welcome to the Romantic Friday Writers' fortnightly writing challenge, started and hosted by , where participants share their own 300-400-word text - story or poem - on a given theme. This week's theme for Friday 24th February, Challenge No. 32, is 'The Perfect 9.5'. My text is written directly for this REW-challenge.




Here is my text :
(Scroll down past the 'Romantic Friday Writers' Badge to read a new version of this story applying advice from RFW-member Linda Katmarian.)
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Ginny and Tommy were good at this. Although not identical twins, only brother and sister born at the same time, they shared thoughts and could anticipate each other's movements. They had practiced for weeks. Now was the time to dance before the judges. For Ginny and Tommy, dancing was not romantic; it was a sporting event to music. You feel the music and know your moves. Being twins made it easier.

They sat with their mother and the rest of the contestants waiting for their turn. Mrs Jones, a tall woman wearing a long Cerulean blue frock, signaled to the next pair to dance. She then approached the microphone and spoke:

'Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Wolverhampton's annual ballroom-dancing competition for ten-year-olds. Let's give each of the competing couples a round of applause as they walk out on the floor.'

The first couple got a lot of sevens and eights. Good, thought, Ginny, There's still hope for us. Several more pairs of children danced and were judged. For one dancing-couple the judges held up cards with several eights and one nine. 'Oh no', whispered Tommy, 'They're getting better'.

Then Mrs Jones signaled to Tommy and Ginny to go. They walked out to the middle of the floor, took their starting position and waited. The music began to play and they were off. One-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three, they counted in their heads. Ginny smiled at the judges when they twirled closer to them. Tommy smiled the whole time at her.

Ginny wondered how it will be when it is 'for real', if
they would each dance with someone who wasn't their twin? She loved Tommy and wondered if she could ever love anyone more than him.

One-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three. It was going alright. Tommy had not stepped on her toes, nor did she step on his. Their music was coming to a close and they synchronised their last movements perfectly with the moment the music stopped. They returned to their seats and waited for the judges.
They were not the last couple, but this score was decisive. Finally the judges held up their score cards: One with eight, and six with 9.5!

'Does this mean that we win?' whispered Ginny to her mother.
'I don't know. But to me, you're both perfect.' She gave Ginny and Tommy each a hug.
'A perfect 9.5!' laughed Tommy.


[Text copyright 2012 Christina Wigren]



Word count according to WordCalc: 399; NCCO; No Critique, Comments Only.




------
Best wishes,
Anna



P.S.
This is a piece of fiction.


P.P.S. in reponse to Linda Katmarian's suggestions:

The first version of this story was from the point of view of the frustrated but proud mother of these twin dancers. But I was so bored with writing stories about unhappy divorcées that I decided to put the focus on these two children, who can work so well together.

Some years ago, I was aquainted with a family that had a pair of fraternal twins, a boy and a girl, who were so different from my own son and daughter. These children never fought and teased each other the way mine did and still do. My son is two and a half years older than my daughter and their age difference is a source of constant conflicts. These twins were always nice to each other because they were the same age and understood each other. They had learned early to be considerate.

The choice of twins for my main characters, is important to the plot because these dancing children have to know each other well in order to dance well. It is not important that they win the dance contest. They do very well and get high scores compared to the other couples, but the main point is that they can work well together; and this is partly because they are twins and so close to each other.

I think that good marriages work in a similar way; it's just that married couples need to take more time, patience and effort to get to know each other.

One might speculate that perhaps this couple of siblings, who really like and care about each other, will be disappointed in the people they meet later in life, because no one will ever understand them better than their twin.

These were some of my thoughts when I wrote this story.

Best wishes,
Anna




First Commenter:

Weissdorn
of
Tales from the Rhön




To read other texts for Romantic Friday Writers Challenge No.32, with the theme 'The Perfect 9.5', please visit this site or click on the image below:



One of the purposes of RFW's fortnightly writing challenges, is to help each other in the writing process. Linda Katmarian has left some suggestions in a comment that I am going to use in my text to see if these changes are an improvement. Read Linda's critique in the comment box.

Ginny and Tommy were good at dancing. Although fraternal, and not identical twins, they shared thoughts and could anticipate each other's movements. They had practiced for weeks. Now was the time to dance before the judges. For Ginny and Tommy, ballroom dancing was not romantic; it was a sporting event to music. You feel the music and know your moves. Being twins made it easier.

They sat with their mother and the rest of the contestants waiting for their turn. Mrs Jones, a tall woman wearing a long Cerulean blue frock, signaled to the next pair to dance. She then approached the microphone and spoke:

'Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Wolverhampton's annual ballroom-dancing competition for ten-year-olds. Let's give each of the competing couples a round of applause as they walk out on the floor.'

The first couple got a lot of sevens and eights. Good, thought, Ginny, There's still hope for us. Several more pairs of children danced and were judged. For one dancing-couple the judges held up cards with several eights and one nine. 'Oh no', whispered Tommy, 'They're getting better'.

Then Mrs Jones signaled to Tommy and Ginny to go. They walked out to the middle of the floor, took their starting position and waited. The music began to play and they were off. One-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three, they counted in their heads. Ginny smiled at the judges when they twirled closer to them. Tommy smiled the whole time at her.

Ginny wondered how it will be when it is 'for real', if
they would each dance with someone who wasn't their twin? She loved Tommy and wondered if she could ever love anyone more than him.

One-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three. It was going alright. Tommy had not stepped on her toes, nor did she step on his. Their music was coming to a close and they synchronised their last movements perfectly with the moment the music stopped. They returned to their seats and waited for the judges.
They were not the last couple, but this score was decisive. Finally the judges held up their score cards: One with eight, and six with 9.5!

'Does this mean that we win?' whispered Ginny to her mother.
'I don't know. But to me, you're both perfect.' She gave Ginny and Tommy each a hug.
'A perfect 9.5!' laughed Tommy.
------
[Text copyright 2012 Christina Wigren]
New word count according to WordCalc: 393

What do you think? Was this better? Should I use the seven words that were saved somewhere else in the text? Where do I need them? What more needs to be said here?

Donna Hole has also written an interesting comment about my text and has suggested other changes for the first paragraph. I have incorporated these changes in a third version of my text below. Let's see how it works. (I am also changing a verb form in the last paragraph.)

Here is the third version of my 'Perfect 9.5-text' with Donna Hole's suggested changes in green.
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Ginny and Tommy were good at ballroom dancing. As fraternal twins, they had an advantage over the other ten year old beginners; they shared thoughts and could anticipate each other's movements better than most adult dancers who'd spent years as partners. They had practiced for weeks. Now was the time to dance before the judges. For Ginny and Tommy, ballroom dancing was not romantic; it was a sporting event to music. You feel the music and know your moves. Being twins made it easier.

They sat with their mother and the rest of the contestants waiting for their turn. Mrs Jones, a tall woman wearing a long Cerulean blue frock, signaled to the next pair to dance. She then approached the microphone and spoke:

'Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Wolverhampton's annual ballroom-dancing competition for ten-year-olds. Let's give each of the competing couples a round of applause as they walk out on the floor.'

The first couple got a lot of sevens and eights. Good, thought, Ginny, There's still hope for us. Several more pairs of children danced and were judged. For one dancing-couple the judges held up cards with several eights and one nine. 'Oh no', whispered Tommy, 'They're getting better'.

Then Mrs Jones signaled to Tommy and Ginny to go. They walked out to the middle of the floor, took their starting position and waited. The music began to play and they were off. One-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three, they counted in their heads. Ginny smiled at the judges when they twirled closer to them. Tommy smiled the whole time at her.

Ginny wondered how it will be when it is 'for real', if
they would each dance with someone who wasn't their twin? She loved Tommy and wondered if she could ever love anyone more than him.

One-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three. It was going alright. Tommy had not stepped on her toes, nor did she step on his. Their music was coming to a close and they synchronised their last movements perfectly with the moment the music stopped. They returned to their seats and waited for the judges.
They were not the last couple, but this score was decisive. Finally the judges held up their score cards: One with eight, and six with 9.5!

'Does this mean that we will win?' whispered Ginny to her mother.
'I don't know. But to me, you're both perfect.' She gave Ginny and Tommy each a hug.
'A perfect 9.5!' laughed Tommy.


Word count: 413
------

Thank you, Donna, for your input here. You have thought of several things that I have not thought about at all. I must confess that I don't know much about ballroom dancing or dance competitions, so I am sure that this text has many flaws. I am not the mother of twins so here again I am probably out on a limb.

This text is not part of a work in progress; but I can imagine what the rest of the book might be like if it were. Who knows, maybe I can develop this further. But right now I don't have the time. The twin-theme maybe something that I might explore at some other time. Why not? I've tried writing about cats, ghosts, faeries, elves, gnomes and now ten year old fraternal twins. I can only guess at what I'll try next. Certainly not werewolves or vampires, but you never know!

Best wishes,
Anna





Tina/parltradet has curated two new Etsy treasuries: 'Gardening' and 'Feathers'







Best wishes,
Anna



First Commenter:
Tanya Walton
of
Allotments 4 you




Tuesday 21 February 2012

Treasury Round-Up for Tina/parltradet since New Year





Here is Tina's black stretch necklace that is included in hoganfe's treasury list:





And here are three beautiful linen bins shaped like animal faces, Forest Friends, from hoganfe's shop:




Here is Tina's red stretch necklace, 'Denmark', that is included in jammerjewelry's treasury list:





And here is a
bronze necklace from jammerjewelry's shop:





Here are Tina's Rainbow Stretch Bracelets that are featured in SmittenKnittinKitten's treasury: (SmittenKnittinKitten had no items available at this time.)







As well as in
feelingwilds treasury: (feelingwild had no items available at this time.)




Best wishes,

Anna



First Commenter:
XXX

Monday 20 February 2012

Tina/parltradet has curated four new Etsy treasuries: Triangles and Pyramids #5-8



Would you like to see 'Triangles and Pyramids #1-4' ? Click here!
Rose of Randomcreative has featured four of these treasuries here.








Best wishes,
Anna



First Commenter:
xxx



Saturday 18 February 2012

Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Saturday Centus - Week 94 - My Autobiography in six words

Jenny Matlock

Welcome to Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Saturday Centus, week ninety-four. SC is a writing challenge in which participants are required to write a text to a prompt using only a certain limited number of words. This week we are requested to write our autobiography using only six words. Mrs. Jenny Matlock's instructions will follow my text, which is this:

Loving most her children and craft.
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Here's a new version: Loved both: Children and her craft. (But here it is not clear whether it is her own children or just children in general.) A third version could be: Loved both: Her children and craft. A fourth version could be: Loving most: Her children and craft. Or a fifth: Loving her children and craft most.

Word count: 6

Best wishes,
Anna




P.S.
That's it folks! I have always loved the visual arts and since my children have come to the world they are almost more important than my work as a visual artist.


First Commenter:

Polly Janos



The Fifth Sister




To read other SC-texts for week 94, go to this site or click on the image below. (Mrs. Jenny Matlock's instructions follow there.)

Jenny Matlock


Welcome to week ninety-four of Saturday Centus.

Before you go any further...
STOP!

I've had some e-mails from Centusians having trouble leaving comments of late. I'm wondering how you'd feel about offering an alternative method of getting in touch with you at the end of your blog post like your e-mail address. If you list it like this: jennymatlock at cox dot net it should protect you from 'bots.

If anyone has a better idea, please let me know!

I think we all enjoy the feedback of the comments and maybe something like this would work.

Now you can
GO!

Although you may not want to because I have a doozy of a challenge for you. I saw it in a magazine and thought it was ridiculously cool so it might be fun to give it a go here.

I know it's going to be almost impossible for those of you running continuous stories but I'm still going to do it to you.

Because I'm like that.

Here's your challenge for the week.

Write your autobiography.

In SIX WORDS!

I saw some examples and they were amazing. Here's two of them: "Learned too late to let go" and "Still dancing in the rain today!"

THEIR IS NO PROMPT THIS WEEK. BUT YOU HAVE 6 WORDS TO WRITE YOUR AUTOBIOGRAPHY. Period. FEEL FREE TO USE A PICTURE IF IT WILL HELP!

The regular restrictions apply: PG, no splitting of the prompt, play nicely and visit the other entries, any style or genre of writing you prefer.

Please display my link button or just a hyper-link back to Saturday Centus. Be careful to link your SC URL to the Linky and not just link to your main blog.

E-mail me directly with ???'s or ask your question in a comment and I will do my best to get back to you as soon as possible.

Feel free to link up anytime between now and next Saturday!

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For those who are having trouble leaving a comment on this post, please write an email letter to me using this address:

adornment at live dot se

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