All posts tagged: writing

Day 5, 6, and 7 of Eco Village Intensive: my brain is fried sorry, I can’t do it yet

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6.30 am now in Australia. This morning is Day Seven: a walk on the actual land, meeting under the giant fig tree. Last night was the Farewell Talent Night- not because we’re losing our talents, but because the Intensive is finishing. Seven days, 9-5, plus nightly optional activities… plus our real lives/work/families/blogs etc on top of that. MY BRAIN IS FRIED. And yes, I’m shouting a little bit there. So I’m pausing for a couple of days to recalibrate, then will write about the remaining days. Because, of course, The Blog Must Go On. But not at the expense of my sanity, which I’m sure you support. In gratitude for the Pause Button when I need it, and much love, G xO 

Fiction Friday: Full long version of short story “Roadside”

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  Hello All- I’m posting this Australian fiction short story in its entirety, so feel free to skip this post if that’s not yer thing obviously. Make a cuppa and spend five minutes with Lucy and Eris, as several readers commented that they’d prefer a longer read, to sink into it, so I decided to post the full story. This piece won tiny accolades in several small writing competitions here, although it’s a few years old now. I hope you enjoy it, and thanks so much for reading. In gratitude for words, G xO    “Roadside”- (c) bone&silver 2018 Lucy’s silver waterfall hair tilts when she moves. The tiny peace badge on her jumper glints. She leans like a rusty hinge to stroke the cat, book forgotten. Elegant fingers smooth the purring animal. She always wears gloves when gardening, and marinates in moisturiser every night. Like Cleopatra, she wishes she could bathe in milk. She knows she looks good for her age, but still bristles against seeming ‘invisible’ to anyone under thirty. She can remember …

Fiction Friday: Final part of short story “Roadside”

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Hello All, time for the final part, yay. It’s Fiction, so feel free to skip this post if that’s not yer thing! This piece won tiny accolades in several small writing competitions here in Australia, although it’s a few years old now. PART ONE is here, and PART TWO here, so please read first. A few readers commented that they’d prefer a longer read, to sink into it, so I decided to post a long one, rather than make it another two posts… I hope you enjoy it, and thanks so much for reading! In gratitude for words, G xO    “Roadside”- Final part ‘I can’t believe we have to find a way to live through this.’ She pulls at leaves that want to tickle her shoulder. ‘And I am a nightmare.’ A twig is snapped. ’You don’t deserve this.’ A cluster of leaves is wrenched and dropped, with fresh tears. Around their homemade seat, the plants in her garden push back attempts to contain them. A palette of colours ramble. Daisies nudge native grasses, …

Fiction Friday: Part Two of short story “Roadside”

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  Hello All, time for Part Two, yay. It’s Fiction, so feel free to skip this post if that’s not yer thing! This piece won tiny accolades in several small writing competitions here in Australia, although it’s a few years old now. PART ONE is here, so please read it first. Then let me know what you think, G xO    “Roadside”- Part Two ‘Don’t touch him! And don’t touch me! I hate you!’ Blowing the lid off her temper, Lucy pushes past Eris. She shoves open the kitchen screen door, and slams out into the garden. Her exit seems trailed by black vapour that sucks energy out of her husband. ‘I can’t fucking believe you’re hassling me about this. Isn’t it hard enough already?’ she yells from the lawn. He can hear the tears catching round her words, and hurries with arthritic knees toward the door. ‘Stay away from me, Eris, I mean it. Leave me alone.’ Her command whips between strands of hair as she runs out the garden gate. ‘I’m a nightmare.’ …

Fiction Friday/Me Monday combined: Part One of short story “Roadside”

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Hello Everyone, I hope you had a lovely relaxing weekend? I’m offering you some Fiction here, so feel free to skip this post if that’s not yer thing! This piece won tiny accolades in several small writing competitions here in Australia, although it’s a few years old now. It’s too long for a single post though, so I’m going to split it into parts, then link them together each week. Let me know what you think, G xO    “Roadside”- Part One Lucy’s silver waterfall hair tilts when she moves. The tiny peace badge on her jumper glints. She leans like a rusty hinge to stroke the cat, book forgotten. Elegant fingers smooth the purring animal. She always wears gloves when gardening, and marinates in moisturiser every night. Like Cleopatra, she wishes she could bathe in milk. She knows she looks good for her age, but still bristles against seeming ‘invisible’ to anyone under thirty. She can remember wearing miniskirts, and going braless to parties, brave and ready for the freedoms the new birth control …

Me Mondays: Blood Into Ink #MeToo Writing Contest Honorable Mention: bone&silver/#MeToo

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Originally posted on Whisper and the Roar:
Why had my cousin rung me 5 times in thirty minutes? I returned my phone to airplane mode, and pushed open the classroom door. But during the lesson, my attention kept being pulled back to the call record, even while I taught; why was my stomach knotting? The one hour dragged like mud, then I pressed redial. ‘It’s your Dad. He had a heart attack in Hawaii and…’ And is in hospital. Is fine. Will be fine. Or confined to a wheelchair at worst. ‘… and he died. I’m so sorry.’ Who took my knees away and punched me in the gut? Can I just curl up here and die on the street too? A passing cyclist wobbles and stops. ‘Are you OK?’ No. Yes. No. I can’t share this pain with you, leave me alone! Lying in bed that night, alone at home, with a silent waterfall streaming out of my eyes, drowning all those childhood snaps of kids on bikes, throwing snowballs, cuddling dogs. A black…

My top five tips for getting 500 WordPress blog Followers

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This significant milestone just happened: 500 Followers (it’s actually zoomed up to 525 already 😃). It feels great, of course, as well as humbling, and thrilling. Thank you all! What delights me the most, by far, are the comments; I can’t believe how engaged, generous, funny, observant, and honest everyone is; thank you again. I love that we all share our experiences and stories here; it feels like a genuine community or tribe. Bless you. As I wandered round in a happy glow, with the screenshot of my official ‘500 Followers’ notification on my phone, I remembered the old days of having only 50 or so readers, back in 2015, before I decided to take this whole blogging thing more seriously in February 2016. What tips could I have given myself? What could I have read, and put into immediate practice? Here they are: Take the time to be genuine; to really ‘be yourself’. This means articulating your opinion, in both posts, and your replies to comments. Actually answer comments! I have un-followed nearly a dozen …

Hello Pinterest. Goodbye Pinterest.

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BLOGGING TIPS-  About a month ago, I met with a ‘blogging expert.’ I’ve really enjoyed the last 9 months of taking this blog more seriously, which to me meant posting and commenting regularly. So I thought I’d check in to make sure I wasn’t making any terribly dumb mistakes. I’ve absolutely loved getting more readers, and more importantly, such fabulous interactions and comments from my ‘tribe’. For you all feel like my tribe out there. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve deleted followers who suddenly appear, and have no perceived connection, input, profile pic, or even actual blog! I’m not interested in fake ‘numbers’ (and as an aside, my dear reader ‘T’ over at No Love for Fatties who started to check her own followers deleted over 100- we had a cyber laugh about that!) JOINING MORE SOCIAL MEDIA-  Anyway, along with 10 scrawled pages of tips and hints (which cost me $120/hr, half of which I can’t decipher now), I was told I HAD to join Twitter and Pinterest, to increase my reach. OK. Done. …

Blog tales for the Over 50s with positive ageing, dating & relationships

400 Followers at last, so good. But why?

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I made it. I’ve been hovering at around 395 Followers for a couple of months, partly because I delete new suspicious ones. Do you ever? Why would a 30yr old Indian IT guy who’s never engaged with bone&silver suddenly follow me? Or a twenty-something Moroccan personal trainer? I’m not interested in fake. So anyone who follows me gets a curious drive-by, if I’ve never had any Likes or Comments before. [Whaddya mean I’m a control-freak? Shucks, thanks for the compliment]. Anyway, I wanna ask YOU why? Why do you read my posts? Which ones are your favourites? I mainly blog about a few topics: My hilarious & smart teenage son (short n sweet, I love these, especially as I don’t really have to do much) Relationships/Attachment theory/long distance romance updates (one of my best friends says she likes these the least, and just deletes the email. I still love her) GPMs: Generalised Personal Musings (politics/social commentary/introspection) Health/food/dance stuff Creative writing (I’ve not done so many of these lately but am hoping they’re going to return) Travel, …

Passing through the Pillars of Doubt, as they whisper

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Writers & readers Obviously, we’re all writers here. And readers. Some of us are new bloggers, others have multiple thousands of Followers, free e-book downloads available, and perhaps speaking engagements on the Writers Festival circuit. I’d love all those things, I’ll admit it. In fact, I want them. I do. I’d enjoy them, I’m fairly sure I’d be good at them, plus I love to travel and meet new people. So why am I not there yet? I’m 51; I’m leaving it all a bit late huh? Well here come 3 clear reasons… What keeps us from the success we want? Now regular readers of this blog know I’m a theatre performer and dancer. Not as in ‘Look-at-me-up-on-stage-doing-pirouettes’, but as in ‘I have to go worship on the dance floor to the goddesses and gods of Life, Love, Passion, and Release, using my sweat, tears, heart, body, mind and soul’– just your average free ‘n’ wild 5Rhythms dance class attitude. Last weekend I did an Intensive: Friday eve, Sat 1-7, Sun 11-5. Lotsa dancing. I can’t …