Counting today, there are only three days left of November’s Writing Challenges. (Also see end of today’s post for announcement. )
Sorry for my absence – I was knocked down for two days that left me feeling like I was going through a wringer. Still, being self-employed doesn’t mean I get sick days – so it was two days of huddling on the couch: NCIS binge-watching while converting and uploading images to RedBubble. Basically “cut & paste” so my spinning head did not have to compose any sentences. Worth it; I made one of my rare sales. I love it when art pieces find a forever home! It let me know that the past two days were not a waste of my (I felt) super-human efforts.
Let me go off on a tangent here … Before, watching once in a blue moon, I never noticed before how NCIS made sexual harrassment was on NCIS – and it even belittled & discounted sexual harrassment training. Especially in the first season. In light of this post-Weinstein discussion, it is sickening and definately written within the “old boys network”. One of the last episiodes I watched last night ended with a “rape victim” (who the story revoloved around) admitting she wasn’t raped, she made the story up after being found naked. As someone who suffered long-term sexual abuse and more than my share of rape, I was left furious; all the damage they had in the storyline to various characters were the result from the “lie”. Man – this fiction is all kinds of misogynist tropes. Yes – I love Abby, but I don’t think I can really watch a show that glorifies sexual harrassment as just normal conversation between sexes in the workplace, especially a supposed military workplace. If I wasn’t already sick – I would have been.
Yes – this is a topic I feel pasionate about! And I don’t touch on it much here. But it is a strong factor in WHO I am. It is something that has shaped my daily life. It continues to be a strong strand in my poetry, as my mind still works out how to re-program & re-write all the damage wrought. The most important truth that my poetry has uncovered – i have a right to my own voice, my own feelings, my own body, and definately have a right to make my own choices and decisions.
Needless to say – but I will – NCIS is not worth my time. I’m not one to quit a story that I start; once I start a series or book, I go to the end of it. But in this case, Now that my mind isn’t consecuatively frozen and overheated, I think the second season is a good place to quit. If I wasn’t sick, I doubt I would have even stayed with it that long.
While I was unable to write while sick, I did get three Tangles done and colored and another two started. Strange how I could effictively use symbols, but not words, while I was sick. Or maybe not too strange; what is poetry but using symbols and images to say what you are being kept from expressing. Another after-effect from my earlier abusive past. And perhaps that is why I find Zentangle to be so satisfying; it is meant to result in abstract images.
Okay … on to prompts.
NovPAD
I am going to include the past two days, as I was too sick to even look them up:
On Robert Lee Brewer’s Writers Digest NovPAD, his prompts were:
- Sunday: : Write a shine poem
- Monday: Take the phrase “(blank) Of (blank),” replace the blanks with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem.
- Today’s: For today’s Two-for-Tuesday prompt:
On Poetry Potion’s Poem-A-Day, they set the prompts as
- Sunday: “my own foolishness“
- Monday: “my hidden story“
- Today’s: “when I lie“
Mia Botha’s November prompts:
- Sunday: “liar“
- Monday: “I have plans“
- Today’s: “I turn the page“
My mind is already looking at the theme that develops between these 9 prompts – and I’m thinking NCIS’s infurinating storyline is going to be juxtaposed along with my own experiences. I’ve already started one poem … ‘voice of mine” …
NaNoWriMo
- Sunday: “One day, the wood carvings your parents collect come to life.“
- Mo.nday: “Write a story (or chapter) from the POV of the protanganist’s grandparent.“
- Today’s: “Choose your favorite villian from a book, movie or TV show and create a sympathic back-story.“
Zentangle
Quilted Greeting features Adele, doty and drops in a tapestry of colors. i kept it predominately green because “Holidays”!
Wreath was me playing with the pattern Pozer within String #47.
Holidaze started with a spiral of Jingle, filling out the spaces with a spiral of lenche & a enhancement of web.
Reminder, my Etsy site CC Willow Arts will be 10% off through December (I can gift-wrap for you). Also – If you like my zentangle patterns, many are available on items, like pillows, on RedBubble. I’ve got over 30 new ones uploaded. And will get even more uploaded today …
Also – sidenote: due to conflicts popping up, I haven’t got my tree yet, like I said I would. Maybe this Saturday …
If you are into community theater and in Oregon’s Willamette Valley – the murder mystery that I have been in rehearsals for – “Christmas At The Blizzard” – WILL BE OPENING THIS FRIDAY NIGHT. See Silverton’s Brush Creek Playhouse’s website for details …
nwpoetariel
Ariel, Pacific NW poet 
Let me know what you think ...