Debbienho !

  What I’m thinking Question! Which do you prefer: squats or lunges? Wrong. The right answer is neither. We don’t like pain. Unfortunately, some pain is necessary. So here’s the deal. Research by these guys and these other guys (there are many other guys too, but I really want to get to the end of this sentence) explain that as if having to deal with men isn’t enough, women are also more prone to osteoporosis. As we get older, our bones weaken more quickly. Bone density does a disappearing act. Bone brittleness shows up with a cheery ‘ Heeyyy!’ Enter, lower back pain. Exit, correct posture.  We get to fight this through resistance training. I don’t mean cardio. Most of us already are familiar with cardio. We walk to most places, we climb stairs, we clean our rooms, we sweat it out to Afro-beats, we chase after our toddler nephews when they steal our headphones, we swat at flies. There are those disciplined enough to go on early morning runs. That’s all nice, but resistance t...

  They’d left the keys there to taunt her.  Naa lunged. Stupid.  Like the first thirty times, the chains on her ankles tensed, snatching her back. Pain tore across her body as she slammed into the dungeon’s icy wall. She wheezed through chattering teeth. The glowing orange manacles around her wrists continued to shrink, their sinister laugh echoing in the darkness.  She chuckled. Her tummy cramped. ‘I’ll need a long beauty rest after this.’ Wind whooshed in through the window slats, carrying sounds of distant brass harmonies and beating drums. The coronation!  Seven days. That was how long the strongest–or most stubborn–magic wielders could survive before the manacles fused with their skin, sucking all their ability. It had been six days since Jasim threw her in, clearing the final obstacle to his coronation tomorrow. Naa’s chains rattled as she scrambled to her feet. She could not hang around for another day.  If she could just reach the stupid keys! ...

  Ooh, I make it sound so fancy. I watched a YouTube video.  (Although, in all fairness, a commenter under said video said he couldn’t believe it was free.)  It was a lecture, about 45 minutes long, and I’ll link it here so you can watch the whole thing. (Ms Kowal’s a great writer and teacher, so even if you’re already a short story expert it wouldn’t hurt to watch.) Read this bite-size version before you go there, though, and write along if you will.   Let’s talk about MICE There are four types of stories:  Milieu ( M ) - A character’s trying to get from Point A to Point B. Between those two points are a bunch of difficulties that make the story.  Character enters → Difficulty → Character exits Inquiry ( I ) - The character wants to figure something out.  Question → No answers for you! → Answer  Character ( C ) - This is an internal struggle. The character wants to know something about himself, or change something about himself.  Cha...

  That is the question. I’m not sure when this blog became a quarterly. Because how am I only updating this for the first time in over three months? Sorry that I’m asking you. I had to ask someone. Photo Credit: Kaboompics, Pexels. Now that we’ve gotten the apology of my inconsistency out of the way (🙈), let’s celebrate!  I’m 24! Woohoo! In the voice of Liesl from The Sound of Music, ‘I am twenty-four going on twenty-five!’ Yes, I’ve been twenty-four for a few years now, but let us concentrate on important things.  In slightly less incredible news, I set a goal to read 25 books this year. Thus far, I’ve read 24. It’s not because I’m disciplined, or that I’ve got so much time on my hands. It’s just proof of how much traffic I have to sit through to and from work. People have got to learn to stop buying cars and just…walk! The air would be so much cleaner.  As is my habit, when I read a good book, I’ve got to talk about it, give the mandem something to add to their TB...