F is for . . . FLEETING

Welcome to The Blogging from A-Z Challenge April 2014! This year, I’m offering up a story – each one 100 words or fewer - for each letter of the alphabet.

Some are heartfelt, poignant, sweet. Others are…not. 

I hope you enjoy them.

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FLEETING

Downtown, shopkeepers prop open doors. Tourists buy souvenirs with beautiful crumpled wads of suntan lotion scented bills.

The bookstore cat weaves between ankles, licks vanilla ice cream puddles.

Boys in muscle shirts, all sweat and sinew, strut, while girls in short shorts, showing miles of taut glowing skin, giggle, their lips shimmering with tangerine gloss.

Parents smile across strollers, hold hands again. These kings and queens of old cast benevolent but wistful glances at their past selves sauntering by.

The houses, the cars are rentals, as are the carefree, relaxed attitudes. It will all be returned by week’s end.

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King's Speech: F is for FRIES

Regular readers of The Shellshank Redemption know how much I enjoy a good quote (see Motivational Mondays) and that I’m a huge fan of Stephen King (see the King of All Days Part I and Part II.) So, for the 2013 A-Z Challenge, I decided to combine the two, using some of my favorite King quotes about reading, writing and life in general. Enjoy!

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I am the literary equivalent of a Big Mac and FRIES.

(Stephen King)

I don’t know about you all, but sometimes I really just want fast food, something greasy and “bad” for me, but delicious all the same. Sometimes I crave comfort food, like a big bowl of macaroni and cheese, something I am absolutely positive is going to be good.   

I have a handful of go-to authors – King is one of them – who are either always “delicious” or who rarely, if ever, disappoint.  Sure, I eat salads and try new healthy meals, just like I read “literature” and try debut authors. But every once in awhile, I think it’s essential to treat yourself to a gooey, fudgie brownie – or whatever your vice/comfort/dessert of choice. Add an ice cold glass of milk and a King novel. Indulge.

Give Me an F! FAKED OUT

Welcome to The Blogging A-Z Challenge April 2012! Some of the most popular posts here at The Shellshank Redemption are the Motivational Mondays. So, after consulting the tortoises, we decided to make April our Motivational Month! Please join us for this (almost!) daily dose of alphabetical inspiration. We hope you enjoy it!

* DON’T MISTAKE MOVEMENT FOR ACHIEVEMENT. IT’S EASY TO GET FAKED OUT BY BEING BUSY. THE QUESTION IS: BUSY DOING WHAT? (Jim Rohn) *

Did you ever look back over your to-do list at the end of the day and see lots of things checked off but still not feel like you accomplished anything? Yeah, me, too. 

For awhile, I couldn’t figure out why that was…until I really looked at the items on my list. Sure, the house needed to be cleaned (just ask the dust bunnies) and food needed to be bought (just ask the tortoises…and my husband) but those tasks weren’t priorities. (Okay, maybe the food part was…a little.)

I’m learning to fit those kinds of things around what’s truly a priority, what’s truly important, like writing and spending time with my husband and getting healthier. So, if at the end of the day, the laundry didn’t get done but I wrote another chapter in my novel and went for a walk with my husband, then I can absolutely call the day a success.