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IMHere

http://12dotsandablot.blogspot.com/2011/05/blog-post_22.html

but where RU?

Happy summer.

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For the record?

I have nothing against people who:

work at a pizza joint,
drive old Hyundais,
still live with their parents,
are 5'3",
overweight,
like scifi,
are asthmatic,
have never been to second base (literally or figuratively).
who like football (American or otherwise),


OR SNAKES, I DON"T HATE SNAKES.

(That's for Bryan in Arizona who I didn't even know existed on the planet before about 5 minutes ago and who thinks I'm a horrible, sanke hating, person. True I wasn't happy about the snake taking a nap on the threshold of my front door. Nor was a thrilled about the rattlesnake who took up residence two feet from my dog pen.

That said.  Thanks for reading my blog Bryan. No hard feelings. Peace and love. Hugs.
I am a writer. I write. Well keep reading and you'll get the idea.)


well you get the idea.




I don't, however, care for folks who deliberately try to deceive kind hearted people on the Internet for fun, profit, sympathy, or because they are having a crap day.

I don't want to be,  nor am I,  one of those people.

Which is the point of this blog post.


AND


Despite what WB (there really is a WB by the way) says,

I am a writer.


That's what I do.


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NB

Read the next post too. It has the doorway to where I'm writing on this blog.

It's an active blog.

I'm just writing in the comments.

Author Ann

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Sigh.
Here we go.

Was reading the Twitter when I came upon a group of folks talking about writing poetry in order to deal with ones feelings.  I think that's a great idea.

However

That's not the purpose of 12dotsandablot.

As a matter of fact?

12dotsandblot is real as this video.
Is there fact in it?  Yes.
Is there something to learn from it? Yes.
Do folks relate their actual life to the fictional story?
Yes.
Except for me walking down any run way in designer under pants, I really do relate to the "reality" of this video.  Real people really do get up and keep going. Even if they fall flat on the "runways of life" during fashion week.
And like the song, "...got to be real.."

Are the people in this video real?

Yes but they are actors playing roles.

It may have been based on the author's life but it was not an autobiography.

Carrie is a character based on the author's real life.

This blog?

It has elements of reality but it's also got fiction.

No not lying.

I am a writer that is what I do.

It's not a way to get in touch with my feelings but is is a way to experiment with "writer's voice" and character development.

I'm not sure why that's a difficult concept for some folks but it is. For instance, WB thinks that it's a waste of time. I think that he thinks that writers just sit down and write the great American novel.  I try to tell him that it's alot of work and believe it or not practice.  You have to sit down and write things because if you don't  how will you finally write the great American novel that people will not only read but actually pay to do so.

Now that is real. LOL.

And yes, a real live editor did agree that a  short story that I wrote was good enough to not only print in their magazine but  he also wanted to PAY ME FOR IT. 

A writer.




So.

Here it is again
Get used to it because this is real.


The 12dotsandablot disclaimer.

This is 12dotsandablot.

It's a writer's journal.
I'm a writer.
A writer and a poet.

Fact and fiction co exist here.

If you don't know which is which?

Don't ASSume.

Ask.



As for my real life?

LOL I'm just not that interesting in real life.

A long time ago, I had someone come on my blog and comment that they were worried about me because of what I was writing.

At that moment I realized three things.

One.

There were nice folks who cared about me. Thanks!

Two.

People whose names I didn't know were reading my blog.  (Ha Take that WB who said I wasn't a writer. That's exactly what writers do. Write things interesting enough for complete strangers to read.)

Three.

I needed to put a disclaimer on the blog to let folks know that the blog is about creating characters. Believable characters. If I do my job correctly the reader will think it is real but know it's not. 

While it is true that I was disinherited?
It is true that I own a boat? 
While the part about my dad being sick was true as was the tornadoes?
This blog isn't my personal diary. It's my writer's journal.  There is a big difference.

I'm not an Internet jerk trying to get views by writing things that aren't true.

I am not trying to get sympathy from people by trying to deceive them. 

There are people on the Internet who'll do that but I'm not. 

I'm a  writer. 
I may make things up but I don't do it to deceive.

Not a jerk.

If you want to know what's true, because there is true in this blog, (My dad was very sick.),  you can always ask me in comments.

But seriously? This blog is about writing.

I'm learning how to hear the world and then translate it into a good story.
I'm trying to find my writer's voice on the Internet.
I'm trying to write and edit.
I'm writing in public to see if the story I'm writing makes sense to the complete strangers who are reading it.

LOL I'm trying to learn to spell and stop using "alot" in a sentence.

I'm learning to write.

For real.

Gentle Readers,

You're going to have to either guess the parts that are true and those that aren't.

OR even better? You're welcome to say hello and ask what's real and what isn't. I'd be delighted to hear from you.

But be very very careful what you read here as true or not. You must NOT ASSume. You really must ask.

Got to be real.

Hugs,

Author Ann

PS True story.

Two true stories.

One. I wrote a story on my old blog about a fella who goes to Cuba. Someone who I'd chatted with was reading it. Got a comment that they liked it and then got a comment that made me smile. I was trying not to write as a man or woman. Even used a nick that was gender neutral. Apparently the person who'd been reading this had decided from my stories what my gender was before he'd read the story about Cuba. In that story, the main character didn't identify themselves as anything other than the child of the narrator. That is they didn't say gender until the very end when the narrator used the feminine pronoun and the word "...daughter..."  At that point I got a comment from the fella reading who was asking me if I were male or female. Apparently they'd assumed one and because of the story they were surprised and wondering if it was the other.

Don't ASSume. Ask.

Two

(and the reason for the disclaimer)

LOL I love stories about people and I love writing fiction. To practice I would try to write dialog and fictional stories that were believable as people. My goal is to write stories that you suspend disbelief and are so into the story that you forget that it's not real. We'll I was doing such a good job that I got a comment from someone saying that they thought I had multiple personalities. They were kidding but I got to thinking, "This is the Internet and folks lie in order to take advantage."

So after that comment just about every other post had the disclaimer, "This is 12..." I'm alot

Anyway. The way I'd look at this blog is that it's not the journal of someones life. It's the journal of writing. Like a photo album of fiction

.

Although I must say that the Give Your Stress A Rest idea is a good one real or not.

Happy holiday.

NB

Read the next post too. It has the doorway to where I'm writing on this blog.

It's an active blog.

I'm just writing in the comments.

For the summer.


Kind of like a summer break. LOL Alot.


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(Because I like the song and since when do you look at the photos on the vids anyway. Sheesh.)

Brothers and Sisters.

While there are some folks who'll disagree?

Let us dig deep into our closets.

Find those flip flops.

Fire up the grills,

It's Summertime!!!!


Now go forth.

Find yer self a shadey spot.

And beeeee


Happy.



I'll be writing here


http://12dotsandablot.blogspot.com/2011/05/blog-post_22.html



This summer.




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Note.

This is an active blog. I'm current writing in the comment section of this post:

http://12dotsandablot.blogspot.com/2011/05/blog-post_22.html

If you haven't already, you can start with the next post and then read them sequentially until you get to the post above OR you can click the link above and it will take you to were I'm writing at the moment.

Why? Well I'm taking a Zen break for the summer.  Will be concentrating on finding something in each day to be thankful for or for a moment of peace. LOL, already there's been times when this looked like it would be difficult. On those days (yesterday for example) I've had to make a real effort to find or to make those moments. After all the terrible weather, the fussing with family, my dad nearly dying, the things that have intruded on my time with Pup or working on the boat,  I had to make a conscious decision to say, "NO!"  You're welcome to read.  I know that I'm reading too. 

I'm making a conscious decision to find peace and happy in my life and then teach Pup how to do this too.

People have been taking advantage of our good nature.

LOL Like Barney says,





Don't know about you but life is too short to be lived as a drama.


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The Circle Game

A glib love story in the Age of Twitter.

Story and poetry by C Anne Ford

PS. This is still an active blog. I'm still writing here daily.  Read comment section for this post. Thanks.

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Was talking to WB.

Actually I'd called him just to say hello.

We've known each -


Sorry was just talking to Pup. Was asking him how it was (and this isn't a slam against Lady GaGa) -  anyway -  was asking him how it was that people could be all gaga over Lady Gaga and then dump on Madonna.

I mean - duh - 

He started out by saying that each age had to claim the new of their own (even it it wasn't)


Then I started to think about Madonna and Gaga. Compare. Then it came. While Madonna was serious about her transformations?

Gaga is ironic.

We'd come into the Age of Irony.

Super saturated with a culture where even reality isn't.

After the Age of Greed?

After the Age of Self Absorption and then Self Loathing.

After the Age of Unfullfilled Expectations.?

It's the natural progression some would say.



After all these years of thinking that the current generation was comformist to the max?



I find that they've been in rebellion all along.


But now I'm thinking that it's time to put the cynisim away.

The new age, The Age of the Big Storms, may be upon us.



We're going to need hope.

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Good night irony.
It's time for you to go.
You've made us cynical.
Old before our time.
What havock you are wrecking
On the gentle art if "kindness"
Turning reality into farce,
Now that's not kind.
You've had your fun.
But now it's time you're leaving.
There's no place in the future that you've made.
Now it's time,
Past time that you were leaving.
Time for Hope

And time for change.






c anne ford
5-25-11


What havock the "ironic" lifestyle is wreckimg on the gentle kindness of "hope". It makes a mockery of the word "real". I'm thinking that, while irony is always welcome and a great way to puncture the balloons of hot air that fly through life, in the age of the great storms I'd rather have hope and heart.



Yeah, I know. MORE irony.

LOL



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Bored, I typed the words, "bouncy bouncy", into the Youtube and viola.



Okay, been in the country too long. Time to go to town for a bit.

bouncy bouncy !



(Honesty note: I'm actually heading out to clean the dog kennels, feed the dogs, hammer and saw things, take a shower, get lunch, read a bit to cool off, and THEN (maybe) go to town. Bouncy Bouncy)


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Was looking for another Shelby Lynne song. A duet with, I think, Lucinda Williams. Found this one. Liked it. No other reason for it to be there.



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On a personal note? Some folks can be self absorbed --








Let's just say that I dodged a bullet from a self centered jerk


And I lived to tell the tale.


"... Are you calling me darllin?..."


I hope not.



,
A little poetry for the road...



The Ballad of the Last Dodo version 4.5

(a redo, again)


Happy
Sunshine
Like a child
Flying through the atmosphere
I look back
To see the the sea
And the ocean of the sky


Riding through the atmosphere.
She asks me,
"Is it time to fly?"
"And leave behind this gravity?"
"That's kept me grounded my whole life?"


Ah no.

I don't think so.

You
Won't keep me down.

Take off.

c anne ford
5-24-11

all rights reserved by the author.

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From Alabama to Joplin Mo ...

Help is on the way.



Folks in areas hit by the April storms have already begun to collect things to send to the tornado victims in Joplin Mo.


I imagine they'll send items to the folks in Oklahoma.


As on lady put it?  So many people from all over had helped the folks in her home town of Tuscaloosa.  Sending help to the folks in Joplin was the right thing to do.


Looks like the folks in Oklahoma are gonna need help too.


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If you can find it there's live coverage of the Oklahoma tornadoes.  MSNBC is running live coverage on cable/sat.




So I was looking up videos on Youtube and ...







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For most of my life my family and I have talked about the weather. It was all around us. From hurricanes off the Gulf of Mexico to the summer droughts to the Spring tornadoes, like the generations before us  we needed to try to understand the weather.

It was from the big hurricanes, like Camile and Katrina, that I learned the true definition of the word "awesome".

This spring has been particularly bad.

From the record breaking tornadoes to the flood,  people everywhere find themselves at the mercy of nature and the weather.

I have watched in awe as people, complete strangers, have come to the aid of the folks who live in our state and in other states.  Complete strangers have banded together to help the injured and try to begin to heel their hearts. 

As you may know, the weather is cyclic. 

I can remember hearing as a child and a young adult time and history recounted by the great storms. I can remember folks saying in the years leading to Katrina, "The next big one will be coming soon. "  And it did.

Katrina with all her force hit the Gulf Coast in the same place that  Camile had come. 

Now I read that the big tornadoes aren't the first.  There were others in the 20's. 

I wonder if there is some way to start a movement to prepare for what may be the next cycle of big storms?

Last year the Governor of our state started a storm preparedness initiative.

Do they have that nationally?



So many people with good hearts are wanting to help during these storms.



We are at heart a kind nation.

What do we do as a nation to prepare for the coming storm cycle?



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Prayers to the folks in Joplin Mo who were in the path of this weekends tornado. 

With all the kind people who have and who are helping with the aftermath of the Deep South tornados (I know that the folks in Alabama are glad to see you!), I know just how good people can be.

My hope is that folks will be as kind to the folks in Joplin.

One other thing, for all the kindness and prayers for the storm victims, there are still people who have said the most unkind things.  Personally?  I don't think that these storms are punishment for bad behavior or the results of  "...trailor trash living.."






In my heart of hearts, I know that these folks who are saying such mean things probably aren't the folks who'll show up in Joplin to volunteer to help them. Nor are they the ones who showed up in Alabama to help those folks who lost everything.   They probably aren't the folks  who'll give a couple of dollars in an offering plate on Sabath or give food to a food drive or send a prayer that God will help if they can't.  Instead they'll sit at their computers and type things like, "...God is punishing the folks in Joplin..."



No matter how grumpy we are here at 12dots? We're not aholes. I lived through the aftermath of Huricane Camile. There's no way I'm going to be jerks to folks who've suffered through a natural disaster. It wasn't their fault. Instead? We pray. We give to the food bank. When a lady, who I'd never met before, asked if we were okay? Not only was I grateful to tell her yes, I thanked her for being kind enough to ask.

The good news is that there's lots of good folks . They come from all walks of life. They're rappers and hipsters. Up town folks and downtown folks. Folks who live in trailors and folks who live in mansions. Kindness comes from all over and the good news that hugs are still free.  They still can change the world.
I'm glad to know that even with the angry folks in the world?

There's still nice folks.
There's still good.
And?
There's still hope.

You don't have to have a nickel in your pocket to be kind.




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Okay, I didn't lie. I really didn't.  Just wanted to put these two vids here and then talk about them. There just didn't seem to be a good place to put them in the previous two posts.




Did you ever wonder about someone.  How for some reason you can hit it off with them on all kinds of levels but when it came to sex it just -- didn't.  How do you explain to a person that it's not personal.  The "tuning" is just all wrong. Wrong key. Wrong rhythm. Not even bad harmony.
Just no harmony at all. :(

How do you explain the complex interactions between hormones and touch. I don't know how a protitute does it.  Anyone walks in the door and they're supposed to be able to transport to another "world" at the drop of a dime or a fifty depending.

Not me. Wrong person and I'd be cold as an iceburg and dry as the desert. I really would. But the right person and --

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fTPQ0fVeN8&feature=related

:D



Now then treat this post as a kind of dream, skip to the next one for the "what's next", and then head on to the comments at the third one...

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On the political front, can you believe this was the Gov. Jerry Brown's "Maria Shriver" lol.



Long time ago but still.

(girl can sing.)




And one last George Lowell song for the day



Looks like summer.

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Note:

Anything new for this blog is in the comments section for the next post.

I'm taking the week long Give Your Stress A Rest challenge. (Made that up yesterday.Sounds good doesn't it.) So far it's working great. Even the email that would have pixxed me off today was handled with a satisfaction. :D.



Sigh. This is such a good idea.

Going to take my bath.

Remember, while there are no new posts, you can find me in the comments on the previous post. The one with the "I really don't give a flyin' fck ..." smiley face.

Happy, happy. :D



Hugs,

LOL

AuthorAnn

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You're here!!!



Here's a challenge.

Starting today,  turn off the Twitter, email, and the cell phone for one hour.

Find a place outside or inside and just sit.  Tell yourself that for 5,  10, 15, or if you can spare it an hour, that you aren't going to do anything but sit and be quiet.   Find a spot outside.  Find a park.  Sit there and just enjoy the joy of sitting still and being alive.  Or sit inside. Visit a friend and ask them to sit with you.

Heck, climb a cliff, look over your shoulder, and enjoy the view. :)

Just give your stress a rest. Enjoy.

Yesterday I had only one thing to do on my "to do" list.  When I'd done it, I came home and went outside to sit under the shade.  Such a relief to sit in that chair and listen to the sound of out of doors. I hadn't realized how much I'd worried. That's when I  thought, "We need to do this alot." So today, back outside under the trees we went to sit and visit.

That's my challenge to you this week, Gentle Reader.  

Find someplace to sit and think (or not think) each day. Relax.

Hugs,

Hope it's a great week.

Author Ann

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