On my new pen-pals

Last week I told you about my New Year’s resolution to start writing letters again and made an invitation for people to become my pen-pals.  The response was smaller than I’d hoped for, but that’s probably a good thing, as writing letters can be a bit time-consuming.

I am very thankful for those who did respond, and as a thank you I thought I’d send some traffic their way.

Tiffany Metzger is a graphic designer who lives in the US.  She also writes, is a big fan of Jane Austen and the Jonas Brothers.  I guess everyone has their faults 😉  Luckily she also likes Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes.  A regular feature on her blog that you should definitely check out is Friday Fictioneers – a blogging challenge she participates in where she writes flash fiction based on a photo every Friday.

Liese le Roux is a fellow South African who lives in Jordan.  We both did an online writing course in 2012 and have been liking each others’ statuses on Facebook since.  She recently migrated to WordPress from Blogger and I’m sure she’d welcome more followers.  Look forward to humourous travelogues, stories of how she kills her plants and descriptions of meals that will have you wishing she’ll invite you for dinner.

John Howell lives in the US along the Gulf of Mexico.  He has just published his debut novel, My GRL.  He’ll in fact be stopping by here within the next couple of weeks on his promotional blog-tour for the novel.  His blog focuses mostly on writing, but there’s other fun stuff as well, especially the Top Ten No Nos he posts every Monday.

Please go drop by their blogs and say hi.

And if you change your mind about the pen-pal thing, feel free to use the contact page in the menu to e-mail me and I’ll let you know what to do.

Song Title Challenge #32: Fractal Zoom – Brian Eno

It’s time for this week’s Song Title Challenge.

Write a short piece of fiction, around 300 words, using the song title as your story title but don’t listen to the song.  You can pick your own genre or use the one suggested to me.  Remember to link back to this post so I can find yours.

If you would like to suggest a song title for a future post, you can do so from the challenge page.  You can also leave a suggestion on the Facebook page.

This week’s song is Fractal Zoom by Brian Eno and the genre is Horror/Thriller.  Thanks once again to bumblepuppies for the suggestion.

Fractal Zoom

Continue reading “Song Title Challenge #32: Fractal Zoom – Brian Eno”

KokkieH Reviews The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Secret Life of Walter Mitty poster

When I saw the preview for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty my first thought was, “Not another Ben Stiller film.”  (I feel the same way about him that most people apparently feel about Adam Sandler – I’ll grudgingly admit he had made a couple of good films, but most of the time he just irritates me.)  However, thirty seconds later I was, “I’ve got to see this movie!”  It did not disappoint.

The film is based on the short story with the same name written by American author James Thurber in 1939.  Thurber’s Mitty is an elderly gentleman driving his wife to the hairdresser’s.  During the trip he has five episodes where he daydreams that he’s busy with something else.  Specifically, in each daydream he is someone doing something exceptional, each time inspired by the mundane activity he’s performing in the real world. Continue reading “KokkieH Reviews The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

In case you missed it…

…in yesterday’s post I announced my New Year’s resolution, namely to start writing letters again.  Along with that I made an open call for pen-pals.  Yes, you have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become pen-pals with someone who is hopefully going to be a famous author one day in the distant future.

Thanks to those who have already responded.  You can start watching your mailboxes in a couple of weeks.  I’ve decided to leave the form up for another day, so there’s still time for you to get in on this wonderful opportunity.  Just click here.

In other news, the wife has also started blogging.  The day I met her she was busy drawing.  I made a remark about wishing that I could draw and she responded with a very snotty retort that anyone can draw if they just try.  I’m not going into all of the detail, but suffice to say that I showed her 😉

Anyway, thanks to the rigours of life she had been drawing and painting less and less and her New Year’s resolution is to draw more.  In fact, her resolution is two-fold: draw more and be more thankful.

Out of this resolution was born The Gratitude Calendar.  The idea is that every day this year she is going to post a simple sketch of something for which she is thankful.  She’ll post other stuff as well, but the calendar is her main project for the year.  I think it’s a grand idea and you’d do well to go check it out.

On a side-note, you’ll notice her handle is Kokkelien.  That has been her mother’s pet name for her since she was very little.  We have no idea where the nickname came from, as it bears no relation to any name in either her immediate or extended family.

Maybe my mom-in-law was prescient as her daughter’s surname is now Kok and the wife and I can make a formidable blogging team as Kokkie and Kokkelien.  Funny how life works out sometimes, isn’t it?

Tune in tomorrow when I review the best film of 2014…

On my New Year’s resolution

On my New Year’s resolution

No, I’m not a little late.  If you check the archives you’ll see last year I also did this only a week after New Year’s.  No specific reason.  My blog, my rules 😉

But about that resolution…I’ve decided to make just one this year.  No mucking about with losing weight or saving more or all that nonsense that never work anyway.  This year I’ve decided I want to start writing letters again. Continue reading “On my New Year’s resolution”