Tag Archives: writing prompt

Haiku Horizons Writing Prompt: Rain Poem #sunday #inspiration

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In response to this week’s Haiku Horizon’s writing  prompt: Rain I’ve come over all poetic.  I imagined how the rain can compare to some kind of heartache…Not often  that I even see this side of me! Thanks for the prompt Haiku Horizons. I’m way over the word limit for Haiku but, hey oh well .. I was in the zone.

 

 

Realistically, it was over before we even got started, I never thought I’d feel this broken hearted.

Apart from this broken heart, where do I start? What have I gained from our time apart? Some perspective, strength,better health and a couple more dollar bills to add to my wealth.

Intuition, I should have listened to it, I should have followed it, when  just like the rain it beat at my door. Finally, my intuition inside of me, forced me to stand on my own two feet, forced me to say there must be a better life for me.  At one point I was too weak, so chance after chance was yours to reap.

Now in solitude I feel peace.  And just like the rain slowly I’ll wash you away.

Daily Writing Prompt: Let’s Keep Love Simple #amwriting

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via Daily Prompt: Simple

Simple

In response to a WordPress writing word prompt posted a few days ago… the word simple.

Is anything ever simple? Life, money, work, sex… love? Nope it never is. But somethings should be more simple than others in life… love should be one of them.

I’ve used this song above  as part of my response to this writing prompt, as the song by Alicia Keys is called ” Simple” and it is one of my favourite songs from the album  ” The Diary of Alicia Keys.” The lyrical content is clever.  If you have read my blog for some time you know I’m a massive music fan. It inspires me when I write, I use it in my writing and I listen to it when I’m writing. In fact, I can’t actually think of a time apart from when I’m asleep, that I don’t have some form of music on.This album might be maybe about nine or ten years old, but I still love it and still listen to it.

 The song (the lyrical content) is about a complex relationship that is never simple, but needs to be simplified in order to work. Which is my point.  People in general may think that relationships and love are complex things, and never simple or  shy away from them. Or if they are in a hard relationship walk away as it’s too much hard work. One thing I have learned over the years, is that relationships and love are actually not complex things, they  could be one of the most simplest things in life that bring you as a person the most joy in your day to day life. What makes them complex are PEOPLE and their  wants, needs , desires and sometimes there can be mismatch  in expectation which creates a feeling of a complex /hard work relationship, that is never simple. Have you ever had a non -simple relationship?

  I have and it took me in all honestly about almost seven years to come to this conclusion on relationships/love and that really they should be quite simple. It it’s hard work, it’s toxic.  I learned by looking back at the relationship, and realising love should never be this hard/complex. Loving someone and being in love, should be a simple, easy feeling. 

As a romance writer, I like to write about complex relationships and show how two characters over come their complex difficulties, with a happy ever after. That’s what romance  and love is about, a happy ever after feeling, not complexity and hard work.  Romance and love should be simple. And most importantly, I have learned it can be. If you just keep it simple.

How?

  1. Listen   2. make an effort 90% give 10% take 3.compromise  = simple.

Daily One Word Writing Prompt: When I am Fluent – Then I am Successful #learning

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Successful

As the title suggests in response to today’s WordPress writing prompt, the one thing burning within me that I would like to achieve, and then I’ll feel  like a success, is to move from conversational/intermediate level in my reading,writing and general comprehension of the French language to  somewhat fluent.

For about two to three years I’ve studied the language, and some might say by now I should be fluent. Maybe so, but I’ve never really been in a rush to be perfect, it’s always been just a general interest of mine. That changed in 2016, something shifted in me and I have a new level of motivation. It could be  as  I have three French  exams in May speaking,listening,reading and writing! I need to pass if I want my language certification, and to feel some kind of success, no one sits an exam and wants to fail or gain a poor grade.

If you’ve ever tried to master a new language you may be able to relate to how I feel, when learning a language for me personally one skill always outweighs my ability to do another. For example my problem is I can read and write so much more better in French. (Well, my French speaking girlfriend and penpal in Paris may disagree with me, she may  laugh her head off at my bad  French in my letters). But I feel that my confidence in the language is via reading and writing, more so than listening to spoken French. It might be all the years of practice I’ve had via writing letters  in French why my skill is better in this area. If someone speaks to me in French quite slowly, I’ll pick up most of it and understand, but maybe not straight away depending on what they say. But if you write it down I will understand straight away. To back this point up even more, I have downloaded some French easy to read young adult books from Amazon and I understand, but when I listen to the audio I have to pause and go back and listen again and so forth. So I have really started to work on my speaking and listening skills. I’ve started to watch some TV shows in French I’ve found on Netflix and You Tube. 

So as they say, slow and steady wins the race right? OK well here I go, I’m preserving with my learning and spending a lot more time on Skype talking  with language partners and listening to French by having general conversations with others, rather than hiding behind my pen and paper to practice. This new way of language mastering is  in hope that by May I can say yes I am successful, I have moved up a notch in my fluency, and no longer need to say  as often” ah can you repeat that for me again, please” so many times, before I understand ! Once this has reduced, I can then say yep I feel much more a success in my language skills.

Have you ever tried to learn a language or new skill? What did you do to master the language? And feel successful in your learning attempts?

 

One Word Writing Prompt: Exposure

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Exposure

One day late, yesterday’s WordPress writing prompt, this word sparked off a poem about exposing the truth. I wonder what the big secret is?

 

Eventually the truth will come out, it always does. I know your secret. So it should be no surprise when I  expose how the story really goes.

X marks the spot, I know what happened there. And for the truth you all must 

Prepare. X marks the spot.

Over there, where the grass is now almost bare.

Sunken in. The x marks a spot of sin.

Under the tree, 

Reveals the spot in which he met his fate. I watched it all, one evening while sat quietly on the wall. The time has come, I know what you’ve done. I think I’ll make that phone call and be prepared to reveal all. 

Exposure, also means closure. I’m re-writing the end of the story, or should I say his story. So  you better get prepared because the truth I’m about to bare. You don’t know that I know, so for me  your dirty little secret will be my pleasure to expose. Then watch you run and hide, then rack your brain wondering how and why  the truth you could not hide.

Writing Prompt: Sweet Sixteen #amwriting #writingprompt

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Taken from the 365 Days of Writing Prompts book, under today’s date this is the prompt.

When you were 16,what  did you think your life would look like? Does it look like that? Is that a good thing?

No, my life looks nothing like I imagined it at sixteen. At sixteen I was just leaving school I gained good grades, I went down the traditional route to do academic study at A-Level I started to study sociology, English and media studies. I dropped out! The only real subject I really worked hard in was English. I really enjoyed sociology. But as a typical sixteen year old girl I had other ideas and got distracted. I dropped out and went to beauty school instead. I ended up finishing a make-up, hair, nail and beauty course. The creative person in me was born outside of writing, I have always loved fashion and beauty.

Back then, my idea of how my working life would be was to  become some kind of creative person working within make-up /fashion. I worked for a few years in salons and kept up the dream. Drooled over Vogue magazine and the like. Played around with make-up like there was no tomorrow. But life changed and I needed to earn a better living so I fell into an office role, kept working, loved what I was doing for so long and then started my degree worked, then did a teaching degree and started teaching, I kept writing… Then became an author.

I’m  thirty- four next month, the sixteen year old me would look at my “day job” now and say no way! A teacher??? You messed up! You should be doing make -up on every super model, TV- presenter, singer, song writer  out there by now.  A sixteen year old me would look at my job as a writer and be like wow, I never saw that coming. But maybe if you did not drop out of college to go to beauty school you may have done this earlier … 

At sixteen I imagined, I’d be living a much more glam life than I do now by the time I reached thirty- four LOL. I imagined I be flying all over the world working on projects, the main make-up artist for London fashion week each year, maybe even my own make-up range  and drinking an endless supply of Cosmopolitan cocktails. In reality  I’m a content and very happy  mum, writer,lover of make-up, fashion and beauty who indulges on You-Tube in her passion or sews the odd dress or skirt at home in the privacy of my living room. Is that a good thing? That my life is not one of  the most high flying, make-up artists or fashion designers out there earning mega bucks? Well, in a way yes as I probably would not be a very happy and content mum, writer and to be honest that’s fine with me as life feels about right. In my thirties I’ve felt the best I’ve ever felt, like fine wine life gets sweeter the older I get.

What were your dreams at sixteen??

National Novel Writing Month- I’ve Signed Up… Umm Humm #amwriting #nanowrimo

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Last week I found out about NNWM or nanowrimo via another blogger. I just got around to checking out their website. I’ve done it, I signed up just now. Since I have a personal goal to write sixteen chapters in about eight weeks,  by the end of December.  (I’ve completed three of sixteen already, to be fair), I thought what the hell, let’s give it a go. I may as well sign up with millions of other writers around the world, and see if I can pen 50,000 words in the month of November. I’m crazy!  But rather up for the challenge and motivated by what I’m writing. I feel fully engaged, here goes.

I just updated my word count on NNWM, based on their assumption I started writing on the 1st November and  I have just over 7,000 words down,  they calculated  just over 1,000 words  a day I’ve wrote on average, over the seven days of November. According to NNWM’s stats  with this figure, this means I will finish by the 18th December. I can live with that, to be honest as long as I’m done by the end of 2016,  I can use January 2017 for submission prep I don’t mind. It would be amazing if I actually completed it (all), in the next twenty four days…. I have a rough word count of about 50-65K in mind. Again according to the stats that came back from NNWM, if I write just 1,700 words a day for the next twenty four days I’d complete 50,000 by the end of November. Ummm humm sounds good. 

Who has  signed up? Or is thinking of  it? Let me know. Need a writing buddy??

 

November’s Writing Goals.

Publisher’s Call For Submissions! #amwriting #scfi #fantasty

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 Just a quick share of this email that popped up in my inbox today.Are you a sci-fi writer? This one is for you. A few agents are looking for manuscripts in  the scfi  and adult fantasy genre. And there’s a writing competition, click the link below. Good luck!

http://view.writers-community.com/?qs=ee9a61df21db1545ef0a2127b91fb317eada5e3e3f628b836472de20130e0abd560aef074097e3d678ee34152b41683f0e7d4064bb821703b0e3705bd00dd39f4bf9f8f0641b6fb117179d4aa7e40a5b

 

 

Writing Prompt: Write About A Book That Affected You – Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn #amwriting #author #inspiration

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Another writing prompt from the random situation generator I found on line, to spark writing creativity. There were a few  random situation prompts,  this afternoon that caught my eye- being a writer this one stuck out. I’d love to share why I love this particular book , (Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn), and how it helped me make some hard decisions as a writer and now author.

Where do I start with this book? Have you read it? If not you really should. If you’ve seen the movie the book is miles better, even though the movie is also good. A few of the things I admire about this book is firstly the genre, (psychological) thriller, the characters, the actual story line’s nuts a bolts (human relationships) and the way Gillian wrote the book. She did something that a lot of writers/authors (not me) shy from- she wrote in the first person. Some say, that this is a sign of amateur writing, I completely disagree and fight this point tooth and nail … I think if you can do it and do it well – get on with it. From experience it is a challenge to do this, if you write in the suspenseful type genres. Do y’all know what it takes to write in first person well enough for it to have the right impact on readers ? A hell of a lot! Gillian did a fantastic job, I can’t praise her highly enough. You have to react to situations like the character, not how you personally would and be consistent- challenging not easy.

When I read Gone Girl, I was there, totally engrossed, mouth open. I felt like I was right there with the main (crazy ass) female character, Amy dressed in black with my hat low, ready to commit the crimes she did in the book, along side her. I saw, felt, heard, tasted, smelt and experienced everything she did in all the (unthinkable) acts of madness Gillian made this character do, in this brilliant suspenseful thriller. In my (humble) opinion the story would not have had the same impact on me as a reader, if it she  wrote in third person.

Apart from the choice of  how Gillian decided to tell the story, through her characters as opposed to third person as the author.  And the brilliant ( unpredictable) twists and turns, the character development was spot on! From chapter one, I sensed Amy was a nut job I never liked her as a person, she was out of this world crazy, but guess what I was not about to put that book down. In my view Gillian created a villain and unusually a female villain- a total bitch I hated, but she ( Amy)  made me want to read right to the last page. To do that as a writer I think is something to be  very proud of.  Nice job Gillian.

How this author’s book helped with my own tough decision making as a writer is also quite important.  Firstly, I honestly believe that when one has a story-line knocking between their ears, the story will tell YOU how you write it eg suspenseful,  scary, horror, thrill, third person, first person whatever. That’s been my experience, while writing two books and now on my third. A Stranger in France (my first book) the story-line and characters I had in mind told me three things 1. suspense is the theme and overall feeling of the story 2. Kim you have to write first person if you want readers to feel and experience, what each of these characters go through, in the twists and turns you have in mind, third person won’t work.  What reading Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl did  for me personally as a writer is  to allow me to  say f*ck it! I don’t care what anyone says about writing first person. I am in the driver’s seat I am the writer damn it I’m going against the “norm” or what is considered as the usual approach for my genre ( romance),  I’m writing in first person, and I’ll do it  as well as I can !  To be honest if an editor or publisher said to me “Kim write this  ( book) in third person” I would have said no and self published, that’s how strongly I felt about it and how much I enjoy first person writing- becoming the characters as I write. So Thank you Gillian! You gave me some balls  that I will carry with me for life as a writer, after seeing an example of perfect first person writing, with excellent character development. I’d do it all again …  in fact I did 🙂   and I plan on writing more stories maybe in first person, using excellent character development. Thanks Gillian!

 

 

#Free Book Excerpts- Weekend Reading #amreading #romance #weekend

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Afternoon guys,

Happy Sunday, I hope you’re all enjoying great weekend. It’s the eve of Halloween and I’m re-blogging this post I did for the new followers and old ones,who may have missed it. Reason being, I have a Halloween surprise for you all. Watch out for the blog post up at around 6:00 a.m GMT on the 31st October for the surprise!

*********************************************************************

Morning all

 It’s Friday finally. Over the last few weeks I’ve posted eight  book excerpts from A Stranger in France. The excerpts have also been linked to the WordPress writing prompt of the day , as a response to the prompt. For those new followers (thank you for following), and anyone who may have missed them, you can read eight free book excerpts  here in one place.  Below  on the links.Happy reading!

Have a great weekend.

 

I disagree

Stylish

Together

Radical

Melody

Shiver

Fierce 

Psst

 So far A Stranger in France has received 5 star reviews! Wanna read the whole book? Go ahead link below.

Amazon

 

a-stranger-in-france-1

Book Blurb:

In A Stranger in France readers are taken on a fast paced, modern day romantic journey, that spans between the city of London, the glitz and glam of France, and the beautiful English coast in a gripping romantic story, between two complete strangers with enough suspense to keep you on the edge of your seat turning pages.

When career driven and successful thirty- two-year-old London born Kate Brown faces hard times in her marriage, she confides in her best friend Tanya Adams in Marseille southern France. Kate makes a bold move and spends two weeks in Marseille away from her husband in London. Her path crosses with tall, dark, devilishly handsome and wealthy Nicholas D’Coix. An immigrant to France from the Ivory Coast west Africa as a young boy, who turned himself around and built up an empire of wealth as a hustler and money maker, and now one of Paris’ top three entrepreneurs. In a whirlwind of sexy, lustful romance Nicholas and Kate fall in love.

Kate returns to London to a few surprises of her own, and still very much in love with Nicholas as she makes yet another bold life changing move. Touching on real life issues these two strong characters battle it out against all the odds in the name of love, across the UK and France.

 

Writing Prompt: What Would You Do If … #amwriting

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I’ve been playing around with some of the 100+ writing prompts I shared with you earlier this week. I’ve had a really good time with the  one line generator, especially the random situation generator. Here’s one that got me writing.

Writing prompt: What Would You Do If… You Had No Money To Feed Your Children?

It’s really sad, but I think in this day and age this is not an uncommon thing in society, I’m not talking third world countries I mean built up society. I can’t speak for elsewhere but here in London, the cost of living is ridiculously high. I have spoken about this before so I won’t rant again, but take rent for example if you rent from a private landlord the prices are sky high in some of the more “nicer” parts of London. Here in the UK we have a system that does offer help with rent payments to those on low incomes or out of work, under the current government we have, when they first came into power the amount of support offered was capped. The result of this was many of those on lower incomes were pushed out of the ” nicer” areas of London they were renting in, and had a struggle to find more cheaper homes to rent. Really sad. Then there’s the average salary vs things like rent costs, food costs, and transport. All very expensive outgoings in London- not to mention child care. 

Parents ( especially women) are often faced with the tough decision of staying at home or reducing their working hours as the cost of full time child care in London, easily eats up a huge part of your income- trust me I know! Just while children are under school age a woman’s career may be set back. Some how here in London economically in some cases it can make more  sense to stay at home rather than work, as the living wage just won’t not cover  all the bills and childcare. This is a blog post for another day! It’s a big subject.

So with these points in mind, I saw this writing prompt and thought this is something a lot of parents may (at one point) have been faced with. The extent of it will vary but we’ve all been there. I have decided not to pay a bill in order to survive, I have no shame in saying that! LOL just life and real, London is expensive!

Luckily, I’ve never been put in a position where I could not at all feed my son, but let me tell you if I were ever in this situation here is what I would do. He is my king and he always comes first. Let’s assume I had no mum, sisters, support system  etc and I was totally on my own…

  1. I’d ask my local shop keeper (really nicely) if he will help me out and explain my situation. I’d like to think after going to the same corner shop (as we call it here in the UK) for almost ten years where I live, he’d help me out with food. Just until I can repay him.
  2. I’d steal it- I tell you no lie I would. This is my son we are talking about. Yes I know this is wrong but I would actually steal food from the store, if the shop keeper said no. I don’t know if I should confess this but oh well! I would probably head to one of the larger food chains. The major ones who can afford to miss the cost of one meal as their profit turn over is ridiculously high. 
  3. I’d try to find a food bank. Here in London or actually around the UK they became very popular when the recession hit back in 2007. I’d turn on the news and see news reports on how much local charity aid  increased in demand, due to job loss vs the need to feed a family.
  4. I ‘d look in my cupboard and see what I can possibly russel up for dinner from what I have. One thing I learned from my mum is keep emergency supplies of things like pasta, tuna, rice etc. To this day I always have these tucked away – just in case.
  5. I’d go out and swallow my pride and ask strangers for help. I really would for the sake of my son. About two weeks ago, I was  outside a cafe, I just stepped out onto the pavement and started to debate what errand to run first on a Monday afternoon. A young girl approached me she looked around her mid -twenties. She said to me ” excuse me miss, do you have any cooking , cleaning or babysitting work for me?” I was quite shocked  and politely I said ” no I’m really sorry.” She then continued  to explain ” I have just come here from my country and it’s really hard, no work for me so I can’t eat or survive.” My heart strings were tugged, I asked her where she is from, it turned out  imagine this from  Greece! Of all the countries. I’m sure you all kept up with the crisis that country experienced when it went bankrupt and residents were limited to just something like sixty euros per week to withdraw from the bank, as there were no funds!  The country and its people were left high and dry. I could not believe what she said to me. While I had no cooking or cleaning jobs I did give her some money for food, just my luck I had no change so I ended up giving her a full £5.00 note. Before I handed it over, I thought to myself what is £5.00 in this day and age? It can just about buy lunch, or a travel card for the day this is not a large sum of money I’m parting with. She was so grateful. All I asked from her is that she did not spend it on drugs or alcohol, I watched her walk into the Wimpy cafe and take a seat ready to order. I walked away feeling like a better person for that charitable deed that day. If I ever have no money to feed my baby, I hope if I stop a stranger on the street and explain they will feel no ill feelings about parting with £5.00 just as I did.