Divorced. Beheaded. Live on Broadway!

Daily writing prompt

What was the last live performance you saw?

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If the post title didn’t give it away, the last live performance I saw was Six the Musical on Broadway.

Six the Musical imagines the six wives of Henry VIII – Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Catherine Parr – come back from the dead and are now giving concerts as pop stars. They decide to hold a little competition to determine who is the leader of the band and winner will be the queen who had the worst time as Henry’s wife. Each wife then performs for the crowd but everything may not be exactly what it seems.

(I will not be giving out any spoilers that aren’t already part of history).

Newish Computer, New Troubles

Last year, you probably remember me writing about some of my issues with my laptop, Little Blue. It was getting old and I had accidentally spilled some soda on it, which affected the keyboard. So in July, I finally accepted my aunt’s offer of an unused new laptop and switched to my current laptop, Rosie.

And though it hasn’t been a year with Rosie, she’s giving me some problems.

Though I guess it isn’t entirely her fault.

Masquerade: Dinner

The new chapter is live on Wattpad.

Scarlett meets more guests at the masquerade and makes a connection with one as the guests enjoy dinner.

Short Stories!

This a continuation of sorts from my post last week. But before we go there, I do realize why I thought about my old fanfic “The Last Lifetime” while at work. It was because I was listening to Taylor Swift’s new album and in the song “The Alchemy,” she has the lyric “This happens once every few lifetimes.” That made me think of that story.

So mystery solved!

(I’m sure you can all sleep better now).

With that out of the way, onto the actual post under the cut!

When Realization Hits

It can hit in the most unlikely of places. Or the most unlikely of times.

Like this past Friday when I was at work. I wasn’t really thinking about my writing. My mind was focused on work, especially as I was trying to arrange interviews. Yet somehow my writing still came to my mind.

There was a fanfic I wrote for an Outlaw Queen theme week about five years ago now. In it, I wrote about how Regina had tried to cast a spell to find her true love and had cursed herself. She became immortal as she waited for Robin to come and break the curse as he kept dying before he could. In this story, she finally had hope that he could break the curse as they finally developed a relationship.

Shake It Up!

And yes, I’m referring to the recent earthquake.

This was my second earthquake. I experienced the one that struck the East Coast in 2011. Even though the epicenter was in Virginia, my house still shook and I felt it. I was in between jobs at the time so I was the one who inspected our house afterwards to make sure there was no damage. I also called to check on my grandmother and thankfully she was okay.

(I feel like I’ve written about this before but I can’t really find the entry. So I’m just going to keep that experience to that paragraph).

How to Take Notes

Daily writing prompt

Describe something you learned in high school.

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When I was in elementary school, our teacher would write all their notes on the blackboard and you had to write them down in your notebook. It was long, it was tedious and it didn’t guarantee that you would have all the notes down if you weren’t fast enough. Honestly, looking back, it was a poor system and I don’t think really taught us anything. I know they say that writing things down can help you learn them better but it’s hard when you’re just focused on getting them down before the teacher erased them to add more notes.

Thankfully I did well in school and was a good student but I could see how that could set others up for failure.

I then entered high school and everything was different. Our teachers wanted to prepare us for college and that meant teaching us how to take our own notes. Very few teachers wrote notes on the board with the exception of math and science, for obvious reasons. For the rest, they talked and we wrote.

So I learned how to take notes. I also learned how to listen and to retain as much information as I could. My notes often included phrases rather than full sentences because that phrase would trigger me to remember the full information. It really helped.

I graduated high school and went onto college. I found I was prepared for the workload and my note taking skills really helped. There was one class I took where everyone would crowd around my notebook before exams because they knew I took notes in class and I took good notes. It was a source of pride and amusement for me.

Fast-forward to my current job. When I was hired, I was told I would also have to back up the Senior Executive Assistant. For the most part, that meant answering the phones and doing some tasks for the CEO when the EA was out. One day, though, it meant that I needed to take minutes when my CEO was on a meeting via phone. I sat in her office and wrote my notes then typed them up following a format my boss sent me. I sent the minutes off for review and they realized I was really good at taking minutes.

Really, really good.

I don’t have to always take minutes but they know I can do it well. My boss also knows I retain a lot of information, which can be helpful when we have conversations. My ability to take notes and retain information is just a really good skill to have.

And it all goes back to high school.

Creating Magic

And that’s not a metaphor.

So I’ve talked about this before but I’ve found myself leaning more and more into fantasy/paranormal. I’ve always been drawn to witches over other supernatural beings like vampires or werewolves. So I’m not surprised I’ve centered some stories around witches. Which means I need to create a system of magic for these stories and trying to figure out what pieces of lore to include.

A Wonderland Birthday

Today is my birthday! And so I’m giving you a little gift – a new short story! Enjoy!

Alice thanked the driver as she climbed out of the car service her friends sent for her. She smoothed down her blue skirt before approaching the entrance to her best friend’s house, wondering what was planned for her.

She stopped, finding a sign attached to the banister that ran along Cassie’s front steps. It pointed toward her gate and said “This Way.”

“Okay,” she said. “To the backyard.”

World of Motion

Daily writing prompt

You’re going on a cross-country trip. Airplane, train, bus, car, or bike?

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Any other Disney superfans who remember the ride who inspired my blog title? It used to be in Epcot and detailed the history of how we humans used to get ourselves from one place to another – starting with our feet and ending with us going into space. World of Motion was replaced by Test Track and became history itself.

I felt it was appropriate for this post.

So, this hypothetical cross-country trip. I guess I have two answers. First, though, I’ll discuss the options I’ve ruled out – bus, car and bike. Bus and car are ruled out for the same reason – I get very car sick. I would not be able to drive or stay in the car for too long. Same for the bus. So those were easy to rule out. And while I like to ride my bike, I definitely don’t have the stamina to do it. That ruled bike out as well.

Which leaves two options – airplane or train. And my decision would depend on one very important question:

Is the point to just get to the destination or to enjoy the journey?

Because if the point is just to get some place across the country, then I’m taking an airplane. I have less of a chance that I will experience motion sickness on a plane than in a car. It’s also a lot quicker. An average flight from New York to LA takes about five and half hours. I would also go backwards time-wise so I could get more hours in my destination, depending on the time of my flight. So, yes, definitely airplane.

If the point, though, is to enjoy the journey, then I would just a train. I would be able to watch the landscape change around me and see the beauty of our country. And I could also opt to get off the train and stay in different places along the way. So I could take a series of trains to get across the country. Trains also come with sleeper cars so I would have a bed as well for comfort. It would certainly be an interesting way to get to my final destination!

Would you prefer another form of transportation? Do you also remember the World of Motion? Let me know in the comments below!