Tuesday – Anything Possible – Creative Due #120 by Keith Channing

~ John W. Howell ~ 22 Comments

Keith tells us what is going on. “On to this week’s challenge: Using this photo (below) as inspiration, write a short story, flash fiction, scene, poem; anything, really; and either put it (or a link to it) in a comment or email it to me at keithkreates@channing.fr before 6pm next Sunday (if you aren’t sure what the time is where I live, this link will tell you). If you post it on your own blog or site, a link to this page would be appreciated, but please do also mention it in a comment here – pingbacks don’t often work.

Go on. You know you want to. Let your creativity and imagination soar. I shall display the entries, with links to your own blog or web site, next Monday.”

Kreative Kue #120

Up on the Roof by John W. Howell © 2017

“I think it would be nice if you stopped singing that song.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Does my singing bother you?”

“Let me put it this way. When one is stuck on a roof the last song one wants to hear is ‘Up on the Roof.”‘

“I guess that makes sense. How about a different song?”

“Like what?”

“The mate was a mighty sailing man,
The skipper brave and sure.
Five passengers set sail that day
For a three-hour tour, a three-hour tour.”

“You’re kidding right?”

“What’s wrong.”

“The theme from Gilligan’s Island?”

“Nice tune though.”

“We are on a roof for heaven knows how long and you think that song will cheer anyone up?”

“Well we have a lot of room at least.”

“And nothing more. I was lucky to save my purse.”

“Well we are all safe and that’s what counts.”

“Spoken by someone who never seems to want a bath.”

“Aw. Look on the bright side.”

“Okay. Tell me the bright side.”

“You wanted to redecorate the house anyway.”

“Not with ten feet of water.”

“Check the sunset. It’s beautiful.”

“I will admit it is beautiful. Ouch what was that?”

“What?”

“Something bit me.”

“A mosquito?”

“You better pray not.”

“There are some out now.”

“Did you bring any repellent?”

“No time.”

“Okay then. We need to start thinking of rescue.”

“I think we will have to be patient and wait.”

“Till all our blood is gone?”

“Till a boat comes for us.”

“When will that be?”

“Michael, row the boat ashore, hallelujah.”

“Thanks. I think.”

 

Top Ten Things Not to Expect on an Island

~ John W. Howell ~ 40 Comments

Top Ten Things Not to Do

 

The inspiration for this list came from listening to comments made by some of the over 100,000 visitors to our island over the weekend.  If you plan on visiting an island at least you have been warned.

10 On an island, do not expect the internet to work all day. If you do, at best you’ll miss some precious e-mails. At worst, that report that was due at the office on Friday at noon is still in your outbox Sunday night. (So much for telling the boss you were working from home hey, Homer?)

9 On an island, do not expect the ferry service to run on time. If you do, at best you will have an unplanned delay. At worst, you finally ran out of gas while sitting in the line and Tiny the WWF champ is behind the wheel of a bulldozer driving towards you. (Tiny has his orders to clear the line and no one told him how to do it. Don’t worry, Ferd, your car is now part of the reef infrastructure which is a good thing.)

8 On an island, do not expect continuous electrical service. If you do, at best you’ll miss your favorite TV show. At worst, that two days of fish you caught will give you a great surprise when you discover them at room temperature in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator. (What do they say about guests and fish after three days, huh Putz?)

7 On an island, do not think you will find low-cost anything. If you do, at best you’ll have to get over sticker shock. At worst, you may run out of money early and have to cut your vacation short. (Too bad no one wants to buy or pawn that fishing equipment huh, Bunky?)

6 On an island, do not expect to be anonymous. If you do, at best you will be confused when storekeepers call you by name. At worst, that rude behavior you exhibited while checking into the hotel will follow you everywhere. (Now that you think about it Buford, that bowl of chili that accidentally landed in your lap might not have been so accidental. BTW have you ever heard of the coconut telegraph?)

5 On an island, do not expect peace and quiet during peak tourist days. If you do, at best you will tire of trying to tell everyone to be quiet. At worst, the last folks you told to be quiet were members of the  Outlaw chapter of the Hells Angles on their annual Raise Hell Tour.(No there is no one to rescue you Bunkie. You might as well go ahead and drink that half-gallon bong of beer and get it over quickly. Also, I wouldn’t try to convince those guys that you are allergic.)

4 On an island, do not expect to find your favorite brands at the grocery store. If you do, at best you’ll be disappointed. At worst, you’ll try to make do and realize that the items you picked bear no resemblance to what you expected. (You should have read the fine print on the contents of that creamed corn, Buster. If you had you would have spared yourself the apoplectic reaction and EMS trip)

3 On an island, do not expect cell service. If you do, at best you will be highly frustrated. At worst, all those calls you placed on the mainland and asked for a call back have all called back and now assume you don’t care since your phone went to voicemail immediately. ( Gee, Ralph. That agent was so hard to find and now believes you are an inconsiderate ass. I guess that contract won’t get signed after all.)

2 On an island, do not expect to make reservations at the best restaurants. If you do, at best you’ll spend a lot of time with no results. At worst, your refusal to stand in line with forty of your closest fellow tourists means fast food three nights in a row. (Who ever said this food was fast, huh Tex?)

1 On an island, do not expect that you are the only one who has thought of a visit. If you do, at best you will be shocked by the crowds. At worst, you will run into all the people you were trying to avoid by coming to the island in the first place. (The real downer was seeing your boss in a speedo huh, Leroy?)

Views of the Neighborhood

~ John W. Howell ~ 63 Comments

Last week I ran a preview to the Texas SandFest and promised more pictures this week. I have to provide a little disclaimer. Since my deadline for posting for Sunday is Saturday, I had to be satisfied with the sculptures state of readiness.  The artists have until Sunday noon to finish their work for judging. You will get an idea of the work even though they are unfinished at this time.

This first photo is of the sculpture honoring our military personnel.

Texas SandFest

Here is a closer look at the work.

The heart reads “Thank you Troops and Vets” with a subscript saying “military smiles.”

Here is a shot of the finished side honoring those who fell in the Texas Revolution

The fourth side of the honor piece is a tribute to the Alamo and the people who lost their lives.

There is also a huge sculpture recognizing the sponsors of SandFest

The next photo shows three of the Master exhibits under construction.

The next is an artist at work

Hard to miss the beginning of a hound dog. You can make out his face and crossed paws.

Pictured are three more under construction. It is interesting to see how the sculptures are built with the help of barrels.

takes a lot of water to keep the sand wet.

More construction

This photo shows how the artists work from middle to outside on bigger pieces.

The Story Reading Ape should like this one.

Here is a good example of building a sculpture on a wooden base.

Another using a barrel

Since last week I showed you the food trucks in a state of repose. I thought it would be fun to see one of them in their full costume.

The final shot gives you an idea of the number of vendors there are on site.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Prompt “Spell”

~ John W. Howell ~ 36 Comments

SOCS

 

Come and sit for a spell. It is Steam of Consciousness Saturday time again and this week’s prompt is “Spell.” Linda Hill is allowing bonus points if the first sentence of the post has the word “spell” in it.(Nailed it) Otherwise, we can use the word any way we want. If you would like to join in here is the link to Linda’s post. You can read all about it there. https://lindaghill.com/2017/04/21/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-apr-2217/

Spell by John W. Howell © 2017

“How do you spell it again?”

“I-t.”

“Har de har har. You know when to be really annoying.”

“Come on lighten up. It was a joke.”

“I don’t think this is the time for joking. We have one opportunity to open this door, and if we blow it, all hell will break loose.”

“Okay. I’m sorry. It is spelled m-a-n-c-h-e-s—”

“Not so fast. I have m-a-n-c-h-e-s. Is that right?”

“Yes so far. The next letters are t-e-r.”

T-e-r. Got it. Oh, manchester.”

“Right. Now go ahead and hit “enter” and the door should open.”

“There it is opening.”

“Alright then now all we have to do is open the safe and help ourselves.”

“The safe?”

“Yeah, the safe. I have the combination. It is another city word.

“Okay, I’m ready.”

“Pittsburgh.”

“Huh? What about Pittsburgh?”

“That’s the code word.”

“Spell it for me and don’t do that i-t nonsense again.”

“P-i-t-t-s-b-u-r-g-h.”

“You sure there’s an h in Pittsburgh?”

“For heaven’s sake. Put it in.”

“Okay. Now what?”

“Hit “enter.”

“What’s that noise?”

“Sounds like an alarm to me.”

“Oh great. An alarm. Now what?”

“I would say this is the time we take off running.”

“Where did we go wrong?”

“I guess whoever put in the code did not know how to spell Pittsburgh.”

“Who gave you that code anyway?”

“Old man Briscoe.”

“The one who can’t see?”

“Or hear.”

“Can you spell jail?”

“J-a—”

“Shut up.”

 

It’s a party, yo! #RRBC style

~ John W. Howell ~ 5 Comments

Craig Boyack is one of the most creative authors on the web. He is participating in the Rave Reviews Book Club Book & Block Party. He is always worth a visit and his books are terrific.

coldhandboyack's avatarEntertaining Stories

Welcome to my stop along the Springtime Book & Block Party route. Let’s get the preliminary stuff out of the way first. I’m giving two prizes away, and you don’t have to be a member to win. All you have to do is leave a comment, and a random draw will decide the winners. Contestants are only eligible from North America, due to the restrictive cost of shipping.

So what could you win? How about one of these awesome coffee mugs, featuring my personal assistant, and the spokesmodel for my writing career, Lisa Burton the robot girl.

Look how beautiful that marble bust looks, oh and Lisa looks nice too. These things are huge, and you’re going to want one.

This time the party took me by surprise. Last time we did one of these, I timed a book release around it, and that worked out extremely well. I don’t…

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Friday JohnKu – AKA -TGIF

~ John W. Howell ~ 44 Comments

TGIF

 

Friday is here and with it the promise of a couple of days of diversion from real life. This week has been one of catching up.  A number of things that have been in the category of “nice to have finished.” What I mean is they are the items that are not crucial to life but would be great if accomplished. For example including the new cover in the Twitter Gravatar. These are not Earth shattering items but do take time.

The first update on the Amazon Marketing Services is as follows.

After two weeks My GRL has received over 17,000 impressions and 14 clicks resulting in one sale. Not too impressive, so what I will be doing is tweaking some elements and see if I can raise the click rate. I’ll let you know how it comes out.

Today’s JohnKu talks about refining an approach that doesn’t work. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Flexibility by John W. Howell © 2017

You try one way first,

Doesn’t work. There’s two options. . .

Keep failing or change.

Thursday – A Little Personal – Radio Interview with Kevin Cooper #RRBC

~ John W. Howell ~ 12 Comments

Spotlight Honors

Today I am pleased to have Kevin Cooper as a guest on RAVE WAVES Blog Talk Radio Spotlight Honors. The show is on today at 11:00 Central Time. Here is a direct link to listen 

Bio

Kevin Cooper is an Author & Songwriter. After years of studying, and even more years working in education, and management in the US, he returned to his hometown in England where he finally settled down to focus on his writing and music. He has since authored several works and recorded/released a few of his songs. He is currently working on his third memoir, and working towards his first full music album.

Kevin has a M.Ed in Secondary Education with English as his main subject area from the Grand Canyon University.  He also completed some post-graduate studies in Christian Counselling and Psychopathology at Asbury Theological Seminary.  He obtained a BA in Psychology with a minor in Classical Greek from Asbury College after first spending two years studying Music and Religious Studies at Western Kentucky University.

We will be discussion his Book Animal Tales.

Blurb

Animal Tales is a lovely collection of short stories and poetry about cats, dogs, birds, and even a mouse. They will warm your heart and touch you soul.

Most of these tales were inspired by real life events, even the poems are inspired by actual observations and the retelling of events.

Animal Tales is a not-for-profit book. All proceeds are donated to Animal Rescue Charities.

We look forward to your visit.

Book Review – Our Justice by John W. Howell

~ John W. Howell ~ 11 Comments

Don Massenzio has given Our Justice a wonderful review. Don is the author of the Frank Rozzani Detective Series and has a super blog where you can find Tips for authors, Advice on Independent Publishing, Author Interviews and of course, his books. Pay a visit. Thank you so much , Don.

Unknown's avatarDon Massenzio

Our JusticeGoodreads Synopsis:

The terrorist leader and financier Matt Jacobs has figured out a way to eliminate the President. He believes he has come up with the ultimate weapon and needs help in getting close enough to the president to use it. He is relying on John Cannon’s stature as a hero to help him carry it off by providing the entry into the Oval Office. When confronted by Matt, John finds himself walking the fine line of pretending to help Matt while trying to figure out a countermeasure to the plan.

The action begins with John fearing for his life. John is forced to run from his house to avoid a killer. Clearly, whoever is trying to get him has a mission to accomplish, and the elimination of John is at the top of the to-do list. One survival does not a story make and the quest to thrive takes John…

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Wednesday Story Day – AKA – Hump Day

~ John W. Howell ~ 28 Comments

Hump Day

 

It is Wednesday Storytime again, and last week we left Mrs. Murphy and the Sheriff (Seth) talking about Lucas’ dead parents. It seems the sheriff did a background check on Lucas and there was no record. The sheriff did find out Lucas’ parents were killed. I think we need to go back and finish up the conversation.
“Killed in their sleep?”
“Well, maybe they weren’t asleep exactly. They were found in their bed.”
“Dear me. Do they know what happened?”
“Not much. It appears that they were both shot at short-range.”
“Shot? How horrible. Was Lucas there?”
“No, he was out of the house at the time. He was on a date or something, and when he came home, he found them.”
“Oh, the poor dear. He must have been devastated.”
“Not according to the investigating officer. He calmly called 911 and reported that his parents had been shot.”
“How calmly?”
“The tape recording of the call supposedly showed him to be very calm. Also, there was some delay from the time the shots were heard until he called.”
“What do you mean?”
“A neighbor called 911 with a report of shots fired but could not give the police an idea of where the sound came from. The cops searched the neighborhood and found nothing.”
“Is that possible?”
“Well, yes. If you can’t pinpoint the sound, you can’t very well go knocking on every door in town. Besides, sometimes people imagine hearing things. Anyway, the call came in at about eleven o’clock. Lucas did not call 911 until after two am.”
“Maybe he just got home?”
“He said he got there about midnight.”
“What do you think?”
“Hard to say. maybe he was so shocked he didn’t know what to do.”
“But you said he was calm.”
“Or maybe he had to straighten things up a bit.”
“Are you saying he might have killed his parents?”
“Not only me. The local police thought so too.”
“Good gracious. Why didn’t they arrest him?”
“Lack of evidence. You know it’s not against the law to delay a 911 call.”
“Sounds fishy.”
“The locals still have Lucas listed as a person of interest. You know I would be careful if I were you.”
“I feel so sorry for him. He seems a little lost.”
“More like deranged if you ask me. Well, I gotta be going. Lock your door, Mrs. Murphy.”
“I’ll be fine sheriff. Have a wonderful day.”

Shameless Plug Time

~ John W. Howell ~ 4 Comments

Don Masenzio helps so many authors that it is time to plug his work. I join him in shamelessly plugging The Frank Rozzani Detective series.

Unknown's avatarDon Massenzio

I haven’t done a shameless plug in a while. While I enjoy blogging and try to keep my activity level pretty high, I am, first and foremost, an author.

I’ve put some time and effort into my book page, so why not direct you to it. Please look it over HERE if you’re so inclined.

Thanks!

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