Monday, September 25, 2017

Blogging: Q & A

Just last week I celebrated my eighth year as blogging at Roses to Rainbows without much fanfare. Just a short post to acknowledge the journey. I have touched on some of these points from time to time in other posts, but I thought I'd hit all the bases with a little Q & A which is solely reflective of my thoughts and experience over the years.



So what exactly is blogging? Blogs began back in the late 1990s as a weblog or an online journal, and over time the weblog evolved into the blog, or blogging, and one who writes a blog is a blogger. 

Why do people blog?  Some do it to keep up with friends and family, some promote their hobbies, some are writers and this is a place to perfect their craft and others blog just to entertain their audience. Many businesses with a web presence also have blogs.

Can you become rich and famous?  Some bloggers get recognized for their content and go on to write books. I've watched bloggers go from small sites to national recognition, magazines and TV shows.


Is this the norm?  Nope. It is the few of the few. So why do the rest of us do it? As self expression, a creative outlet, or as some people state, "I can't not write".


Who is reading? "Better to write for yourself and have no public than to write for the public and have no self." I often wonder what Cyril Connolly was thinking when he said those words? Born in the early 1900s, he was a widely published British author, so apparently he was not lacking a public for whom to write. People from all walks of life read blogs for different reasons - entertainment, information, or a sense of community among the author and other readers.


Isn't blogging dead/dying?  No, there are a lot of active, successful blogs out there. Yes, social media such as Facebook, Instagram and others have changed things, but bloggers still offer content in a format that social media does not.

For whom are you writing?  For anyone who takes the time out of their busy lives to read my posts. For anyone who reads my words and smiles. For anyone who happens by on their way to somewhere else.  
I am writing for you!


What is your goal?  My goal is to make people think, make them smile, encourage them, motivate them, to serve up entrees of information and anecdotes tossed with a mixture of fact and fiction, with sides of pictures and poetic ponderings. I would also like to establish a community of individuals sharing their thoughts and experiences.


Should I leave a comment? Absolutely! This not only helps build the community I mentioned, but also encourages the author and is greatly appreciated. Please and thank you in advance!

To other writers and bloggers, what keeps you writing?





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Friday, September 22, 2017

Welcome to Autumn, 2017

I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house. So I have spent almost all the daylight 
hours in the open air. - Nathaniel Hawthorne


Pretty Dogwood berries in the late afternoon sunlight.


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Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Celebrating 8 Years at Roses to Rainbows


Here I am, still blogging along after 8 years. This is my 963rd published post. There have been ups and downs, challenges and lapses, and yet I keep coming back. Why, you ask? Well, it was once said to me when I pondered my apparent failure as a blogger that "you never know when the words you write will touch someone". 

If I make one person laugh or even crack a smile, it's worth it. If I inspire, uplift or motivate one person, then I have accomplished something. If I entertained someone with my fictional characters, then that was a good day.

The doors are always open here at Roses to Rainbows, so drop by anytime. The archives are filled to the brim with eight years of stories, poetry, pictures, musings and much more.


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Monday, September 11, 2017

We Can't All Be Butterflies

We know what we are, but know not what we 
may be. - William Shakespeare



Generally we know who and what we are, and we may even know what we aspire to become, but that is not a certainty. Circumstances change, and events beyond our control can alter the outcome.

Unlike this pretty fellow, who will one day become a beautiful Swallowtail butterfly, we don't necessarily know what lies ahead, or just around the corner for that matter. Just because we don't know what we may be doesn't mean we can't always strive to be our best selves.


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Thursday, August 31, 2017

So Now We Wait...

This is the 10th and final day of the First Annual 10 Days of Heat writing challenge hosted by 
P. J. at A ‘lil HooHaa. Today's prompt is New York, New York. Please join me in checking out the other hot stories.

"Over here," called Charlie, standing in front of a rusty door. "Other than a loading dock with a garage door, this looks like the only way in...or out of the building. What does that tell you?"

Kyle looked around, stroking his chin, "No one gets in without whoever's inside knowing about it. Do we stake it out and see who shows up?"

"Or leaves," says Charlie. I'll get some agents down here to blend in and keep an eye on the place. We will meet back up with Alex and Bobby to see what they found out." He pauses, taking a bag and some tweezers from his pocket and collects a cigarette butt. "This may be nothing but you can never tell what might turn out to be a clue."

The four agents piled into a booth at a restaurant on the other side of town and began to compare notes.

"So what did you guys pull out of the woodwork today?" asked Charlie.

"We hit four auction houses, but the first three don't count. I think we hit pay dirt at the fourth" grinned Alex. "A place called Tranquility Imports." 



"Tranquility Imports" That's kind of a sissy name for the kind of scum we're looking for," smirked Charlie. 

Yeah, I thought that was an odd name for an establishment walking the fine line between legal and jail time. Turns out it's a family business going back generations. It is run by Sato Yasahiro, the third in the family to bear that name. Yasahiro means 'tranquil child'. After his father died and the current Yasahiro took over the business, changes were made."



"So these changes are perhaps what leads you to believe this may be our guy?" inquired Kyle.

"Not our guy, so much as the guy who knows the guy, and let's just say that the elder Yasahiro is probably not smiling down on the new business plan," said Bobby, reaching for the plate of fries. "What did you find?"

"We found a grungy warehouse that fits the bill for shady dealings. We put some undercover guys on stakeout," replied Charlie, glancing at his watch. "It's almost the witching hour when bad things get worse."

As if on cue, Charlie's cell rings. "Yeah, what have you got? Okay. What did they look like? I see, got it. Thanks."

All eyes were on Charlie. "Alex, can you describe Yasahiro for me?"

"Stocky, about 5' 8", black hair pulled back into a queue. Dressed in black with a red tie and gold cuff links," complied Alex. "Did they see him?"


"Maybe. There was another guy there too, bald, likely in his 50s. One of our guys posed as a drunk sitting propped up next to the building behind the dumpster. He was wired and picked up a bit of conversation about how to get a particular piece for some rich American."

"The bald guy was driving a rental with New York plates so they checked with the rental agency. It was rented to a Nikolai Petrov, who just happens to be our dead Russian. I'm going to have a piece of evidence checked for prints and DNA. Maybe we'll get a hit." said Charlie. "I'm thinking the bald guy is SAD."

"Yeah, I'd be sad, too, if I was bald," joked Alex. 

"All right, get some sleep tonight. Hopefully, tomorrow we can prove the connection between Yasahiro and the bald guy.

The next morning Alex's burner phone rings. "Hello. Yes, this is Alan. I see. Yes, a week will be fine. Thank you very much. Jasmine will be very happy."

"That was Yasahiro. He says he has met with his contact and they should be able to have it within a week, and he would be in touch to arrange payment and delivery," Alex reported to the group. "In addition to the piece being rare, expensive and difficult to obtain, it is also in Hirosaki. So now we wait."

Charlie smiled over the rim of his coffee cup, "Excellent! In the meantime, we'll quietly continue our undercover investigation. We need to know when and where the deal will go down so we can be in place ahead of time."

"At least this one is on our turf," said Alex. "That's a relief after the last case took us all over the country. Plus I got shot."

"Look at it this way, Alex, you got to meet a pretty girl," said Charlie, thumping him on the back.

To be continued.




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