Lisa Ricard Claro - Writing in the Buff

Papa

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Sat, 05 May 2012 12:10:00 +0000


Dr. Joseph J. Claro (Papa) - October 14, 1923 - May 3, 2012

Papa passed away peacefully early Thursday morning at the age of 88. He was a sweet, wonderful man who will be missed by all who knew and loved him.

Thanks to everyone for your kind prayers, thoughts and notes of concern during this difficult time.

Lisa

Blog on Hiatus

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:38:00 +0000

Writing in the Buff is temporarily on hiatus.

My father-in-law (Papa) was hospitalized last Thursday and I'm setting aside anything not pertinent to family at this time. Your kind prayers and positive thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Lisa

Book Blurb #60: Moon Star

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 23:00:00 +0000

TGIBBF!

Welcome again to Book Blurb Friday. If you're a newbie, here's the scoop so you understand what follows. Please click HERE or click the tab under the blog header for details of the Book Blurb Friday meme. This is the shortened, abridged version:

Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book.

Below is this week's "book cover," offered for our creative blurbs by my daughter and aspiring photographer, Christina. My blurb follows.

Moon Star

(150 words)

Brenna James is a country girl who made it big. She’s a multimedia princess with an Oscar, an Emmy, and a platinum album hanging on the wall. Her life is charmed until an automobile accident leaves her famous face so disfigured that even plastic surgery cannot undo the damage.

Hollywood can forgive anything except the loss of beauty.

Unable to continue her entertainment career, Brenna returns home to the little Southern town of Moon Star, Alabama. Here she finds the family and friends she left behind, bitter rivalries that rise again, and old wounds that never quite healed. There are lessons to be learned and atonement to be made; and as Brenna comes to terms with her shattered face and ruined career, it is a love she believed long lost that might just be the miracle that redeems her.

A story of loss, love, and the substance of true beauty.

Thank you for participating in Book Blurb Friday. If you have any photos you think would be appropriate as a "book cover," please send them to me via email (writinginthebuff@hotmail.com).

See you next for Monday's microfiction. Have a great weekend!

Lisa

Social Networking: Necessity or Guilty Pleasure?

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 09:00:00 +0000

This week I have no naked truth to impart. Rather, I’m seeking the naked truth—yours, to be exact—regarding social networking.

I’m fascinated by the pervasiveness of Facebook and Twitter. Although I have a Facebook account I only visit the site a couple times a week, usually to confirm my blog posts are updating. Only occasionally do I write a specific update on my Facebook page. But there are many who qualify as Facebook junkies (you know who you are!) and I’d like your input regarding what it is you love about Facebook, as well as if your reasons for creating a Facebook page have changed over time or remain the same.

Now for Twitter. I don’t have a Twitter account, but I’m told I’m missing out. My questions here are the same. If you love Twitter, please leave a comment explaining why and what keeps you tuned in.

Part of the reason I’m slow to jump on the social networking bandwagon is time. To make room in my already slammed schedule for Facebook and Twitter I'll have to bump something else, and believe me when I say there isn't anything I can expel. How do you find the time to be active in the social networking sites without taking time from other worthy/mandatory pursuits, and—here’s the big question—do you consider social networking to be a productive use of your time, or frivolous? Is it a necessity or a guilty pleasure?

I’m seeking the naked truth about social networking. Love it or loathe it, I’d like to hear your point of view!

See you next for Book Blurb Friday –

Lisa

Microfiction: Magic Mower

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Magic Mower #1: Beam Him Up!

(137 characters)

Billy wished the mower was a machine that could transport him far, far away. After an hour of hearing him whine, Grandma wished the same.

* * * *

Magic Mower #2: Shoot Him Down!

(137 characters)

Ed learned the secret to turning a beautiful, serene woman into a raging shrew in under three seconds: Mow down her prize-winning tulips.

To read the microfiction stories of others participating in this meme, please click HERE.

Thanks for visiting! See you on Wednesday for the naked truth about . . . Social Networking.

Have a great week--
Lisa

Book Blurb #59: The Riley Factor

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 02:01:00 +0000

Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book.

Below is this week's "book cover," offered for our creative blurbs by the talented and generous Sioux Roslawski at Sioux's Page.

The Riley Factor

(149 words)

Adorable Riley begins appearing on bridge overpasses, billboards, and even in urban graffiti. The message is always: “Riley was here.” Where did Riley come from? What does it mean?

Kate Truhorn works at the private think tank, RWH Corporation. After discovering a secret project named the Riley Factor pertaining to subliminal messaging, she digs for information and learns that the researchers connected to the project are either missing or dead.

Kate confides in Benton Vaughn, her boyfriend and RWH corporate attorney who promises to investigate, but soon Kate suspects she is being followed and her phone is tapped. Unsure who to trust, Kate goes into hiding, still hunting clues. But whoever is behind the Riley project wants Kate stopped, and soon she’s running for her life. But she won’t stop until she knows . . . what is the Riley Factor, and why must people die to protect it?

Here is our "book cover" for next week's Book Blurb Friday #60, provided by my daughter, Christina, who last week received notification of acceptance to SCAD (Savannah College of Art & Design) along with an academic scholarship. Congratulations Christy! She's working on her portfolio now and hopes to earn an artistic honors scholarship as well.

Seeking My Blog Topic Zen

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Pawsitive Pondering

Rigby and Special Agent McGee.

Z is for:

Zest + Zeal = Zen

Live every day with a

Zest for Life and a Zeal for Love

so you may achieve your

Zen of Being.

Peace out.

When I launched Writing in the Buff three years ago I had no idea what to blog about. I didn’t particularly want to blog. It was my writing Yoda, the scathingly brilliant Cathy C. Hall, who peer pressured me into it. Over the course of a week I ran into her at the grocery store twice and Quick Trip once. That had never happened before and hasn’t occurred since. It was like the Fickle Finger of Fate singled me out. And with each Cathy C. Hall sighting, I received verbal pokes.

“Really, Lisa, start a blog you must,” said she.

“I don’t know how,” I said. “What will I write about?”

“Quit whining,” said Cathy C. Yoda . . . er, Hall. “Blog you must, grasshopper.”

(Okay, so I’m mixing my mentorisms. It’s my blog. I’m allowed to do that here. Besides, Cathy is a seriously multifaceted Yoda.)

Anyway, the point is, I came into the Blogosphere dragging my feet, and it isn’t a lie to say that after three years I still suffer an identity crisis. What is my blog about, besides the obvious and very broad topic of writing? I have fun with the Monday and Friday memes (they’re like play time for writers), but aside from that, what I am doing?

See, that’s the thing. Writing is a BIG topic. And lately I’m feeling the squeeze to zero in on my Zen and find my focus. As I pull back the layers to discover exactly what that is, I promise to write about it, and only the naked truth because as a writer, I’m shortchanging myself and my readers if I don’t build my words from an honest core. Even fiction exposes the truth, one way or another.

So how about you? Why do you blog and what got you started? Did you begin with a clear vision, or has it developed over time? Is your blog the result of organized planning, or is it a meandering miracle? Please share how you started and if you know where you’re going . . . have you found your blog-writing Zen?

Thanks for visiting.

See you next for Book Blurb Friday –

Lisa

Microfiction: What the Duck?!

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Frosty Fowl

(136 characters)

“Why do my pals look so surprised?” Larry wondered, until he joined them in the icy lake and his tail feathers froze. Question answered.

* * * *

The One (Who makes bath time so much fun!)

(131 characters)

Ed stared at his idol and inspiration, Rubber Ducky, immortalized in song as The One. “He’s so much shorter in person!” Ed thought.

Ernie from Sesame Street sang the Rubber Ducky song, as most parents will recall. How many of you sang the song to your kids and still remember the words and tune? I sure do. Do any of you still sing it, either to one of your little ones or to a grandchild? I'm sure I'm not the only microfiction participant this week who has included a video of Ernie's rendition of "Rubber Ducky." This sure brings back memories.

To read the microfiction stories of others participating in this meme, please click HERE.

Thanks for visiting! See you on Wednesday for the naked truth about . . . Blog Topics.

Have a great week--
Lisa

Book Blurb #58: Moonlight Monsters

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 23:58:00 +0000

Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book.

Below is this week's "book cover," offered for our creative blurbs by the talented and generous Kathy Matthews at Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy. My blurb follows:

Moonlight Monsters

(146 words)

Gracie Porter wants to be a writer. But she’s so busy talking about her stories that sometimes reality and fiction smoosh together as easily as her favorite banana-and-pickle sandwich, making it difficult to tell if something is true or a story from Gracie’s busy imagination.

So when Gracie claims she saw something “kooka-bazooka-crazy” on the night of the full moon, no one believes her. And when she insists that the thing she saw is now prowling the halls of Wolfe Middle School disguised as the new principal, Ms. Lycan-Thrope, her friends think she’s written too many scary stories.

But when students sent to the principal's office start disappearing, Gracie’s two closest pals begin to think Gracie may be onto something. Together with Gracie they devise a plot to spy on Ms. Lycan-Thrope and prove she’s the wiliest of monsters—a hungry werewolf in the perfect disguise.

Today's Potluck!

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:00:00 +0000

For today’s blog post, I chose the Potluck title because I have varying “dishes” floating around in my mind and couldn’t decide on which to focus. The answer became clear the other day as I sat at the Women’s Imaging Center waiting to have “the girls” squashed flat for a mammogram. As if Monday mornings aren’t bad enough.

Anyway, while awaiting the dreaded “mammy whammy,” as my pal Linda O’Connell calls it, I stumbled on an issue of More magazine. I read an interview with Kathryn Stockett, the author of “The Help.” She had lots of nifty things to say, but the one that jumped out at me is this: Her manuscript for “The Help” was rejected a whopping 60 times before she found an agent. She simply refused to give up.

My curiosity was piqued, so I hunted down a few more authors who didn’t give up. Take a look:

The William Golding classic, “Lord of the Flies,” was rejected 20 times.
Richard Hooker’s novel, “M*A*S*H*,” made famous in film and on T.V. received 21 rejections.
“Carrie” by Stephen King garnered 30 rejections.
Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone With the Wind” earned 38 rejections.
Frank Herbert’s Sci-Fi classic, “Dune,” received 23 rejections.
The first “Chicken Soup for the Soul” edited by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen is the winner today, with 33 rejections the first month and—drumroll, please—140 total rejections.

This isn’t news. We’ve seen it before, heard it before, and filed it away. But it bears repeating: Never. Give. Up. What if Kathryn Stockett had dumped “The Help” in the bottom of her desk drawer after agent #60 said no? She would never have connected with agent #61, and that was her magic number.

So what’s your magic number, or mine? The one that gives us a YES! It could be #4 or #104. We won't know until we make it happen. Maybe you've already made it happen. If so, what is your lucky number?

Do you know the name of a famous author whose work received multiple rejections? Please leave a comment about it. A little inspiration goes a long way.

Hope you enjoyed today’s Potluck. See you next for Book Blurb Friday!

Lisa

Microfiction: She's Got Game!

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Game for Anything

(137 characters)

Red Lobster’s new “Catch-It-Yourself & Save a Bundle” promo was a big hit with the snorkeling team at the Young at Heart Retirement Home.

* * * *

Game for Almost Anything

(136 characters)

A photo of Aunt Gertie wearing goggles? Amusing. A photo of Aunt Gertie after a jumping minnow bounced into her snorkel? Priceless.

To read the microfiction stories of others participating in this meme, please click HERE.

Thanks for visiting! See you on Wednesday for the naked truth about (last Wednesday's post that wasn't) . . . Potluck.

Have a great week--
Lisa

Book Blurb Friday #57: Provenance

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 00:57:00 +0000

For those of you who asked what happened to my Wednesday post, the answer is simple. I never wrote it! On Monday I went one way and my back went the other, and I've spent the ensuing days recuperating. I'm still not 100%, but definitely feeling better than earlier in the week. And so . . .

TGIBBF!

Welcome again to Book Blurb Friday. If you're a newbie, here's the scoop so you understand what follows. Please click HERE or click the tab under the blog header for details of the Book Blurb Friday meme. This is the shortened, abridged version:

Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book.

Below is this week's "book cover," offered for our creative blurbs by the multi-talented Sandra Davies at Lines of Communication. My blurb follows:

Provenance

(150 words)

Artist Simone Ravenelle is declared legally dead six months after her plane goes off the grid. Simone soon becomes, posthumously, the darling of the art world, thanks to the antics of:

Francisco Delicioso — owner of Los Artistas Restaurante, he will display only Simone’s paintings in his famous Hollywood restaurant.

Mitzi Boobreeze — sexy star of TV’s #1 show, “The Real Hookers of Hollywood,” she battles over the purchase of the painting titled “Easy Breezy,” believing herself to be Simone’s inspiration.

Horace Henchman — US Senator who briefly dated Simone; intends to secretly sell her artwork to fund his presidential campaign.

As art collectors vie for the works of Simone Ravenelle, Simone herself relaxes incognito in an Italian villa, intending to prove an artist needn’t be dead to achieve fame. But not everyone is pleased with her reappearance, and Simone faces the grim reality that she may be worth more dead than alive.

Here is our "book cover" for next week's Book Blurb Friday #58, provided by the generous and talented Kathy Matthews at Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy.

Microfiction: Alpaca Bag for Hollywood

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Spittin' Image

(140 characters)

Tempestuous Hollywood star Ava Avan abandoned her career to raise alpacas. “Unlike my last co-star, they spit only when angry,” she quipped.

* * * *

It's All for the Bust

(134 characters)

Movie mogul Ima Llama's newest film is a saga about family life on an alpaca farm and stars Dolly Parton. The title: Alpacas or Bust.

I wasn't sure if the photo is of llamas or alpacas. I know that llamas are bigger than alpacas, and these guys look small to me, so I chose the latter. As I fretted over it, my husband reminded me that this is fiction, after all, and I may call them camels or giraffes if I so choose. I hate it when he's right!

To read the microfiction stories of others participating in this meme, please click HERE.

Thanks for visiting! See you on Wednesday for the naked truth about . . . Potluck.

Have a great week--
Lisa

Book Blurb Friday #56: Tail of the Tiger

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 01:02:00 +0000

Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book.

Below is this week's "book cover," offered for our creative blurbs by the talented Scott Liddell.

"Sumatran Tiger" photo by Scott Liddell.

Tail of the Tiger

(150 words)

Computer whiz kid John Bonner grew up watching the world famous team of Stromheim and Ayo wow tourists around the world. John didn’t mind not sharing the spotlight; his passion is computers, not performing with the big cats as does John’s Uncle Strom.

An electrical storm blows the power at the Stromheim compound and the back-up generators are suspiciously inoperative, plunging the facility into darkness. When power returns, the compound is empty of every living creature . . . except John.

While the police explore physical leads, John hacks into his uncle’s computer for clues, only to discover that Stromheim is not just a stage performer, and Ayo isn’t just any tiger. And when Ayo turns up bloody and pacing outside the compound, John knows he must find a way to rescue his uncle and protect the big cat from those who would use him for their own evil ends.

Choices: Mental Contortions

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 09:00:00 +0000

One of my best friends, Carrie, is someone I admire for many reasons, not the least of which is her ability to make snap decisions. She is smart and sensible, her choices aren’t random, and they are almost always spot on.

Me? Indecisive. I over-think everything and view options from so many different angles my brain holds a degree in contortionism. I have a PhD in the “what, if, then” scenario, and play each one out in my mind to its bitter end.

Interestingly, this problem rarely plagues me in business. I’m a think-on-her-feet kind of woman, making decisions as necessary and usually with excellent results. It’s in my personal, every-day life that I vacillate. What gives?

Carrie isn’t wishy-washy in her business or personal life. Her analytical mind bridges the gap with ease. How the heck does she do it?

A number of years ago our families met at a local water park. I stood on the concrete walkway debating the options for where we should plant our paraphernalia for the day. As I considered the beach vs. the wave pool vs. the little nipper’s slides, Carrie said, “The beach!” and she was off. No muss, no fuss, and we scored a huge beach umbrella under which to stash our stuff.

This was not a life and death situation, buttercup. This was a “pick a place, any place” scenario. Why did I complicate it? Why, oh, why?

As usual, I have a theory.

In business, most decisions adhere to company rules or protocol. Even never-before-seen dilemmas where (forgive this trite phrase . . . I’m cringing as I write it) out-of-the-box thinking is required, there is still a touchstone of prior practice from which to draw; after all, if you don’t know what “in-the-box” is, how will you know if you’re out of it? In personal life, the variables are less concrete. For us type-A personalities, the nebulosity of day-to-day stuff requires organization and cataloging. My endless debates of pros and cons aren’t wishy-washiness (okay, sometimes they are, but it isn’t my fault; I’m a Libra). They are my attempts to organize information so choices made will offer the most positive outcome.

When I put it that way, my indecisiveness sounds almost noble, doesn’t it? And now that I understand my mental contortions, maybe I will meet more of my writing goals, too. My internal debates regarding plot and character are tools for organization.

Are you a debater like me or an immediate decision maker like my pal Carrie? Or are you both, depending on your environment? And—the big question—does my theory of organization make sense, or is it just rationalization for being indecisive?

See you next for Book Blurb Friday –
Lisa

Microfiction: One Tip, Too Tipsy!

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 09:00:00 +0000

One Tip

(134 characters)

The anonymous tipster said the clue was in a barrel. Detective Jones counted the kegs and sighed. “Everybody’s a comedian,” he groaned.

* * * *

Too Tipsy

(139 characters)

Ed renewed his effort, but focusing was tough. He should’ve known better than to perform beer tasting and barrel inventory on the same day.

To read the microfiction stories of others participating in this meme, please click HERE.

Thanks for visiting! See you on Wednesday for the naked truth about . . . Choices.

Have a great week--
Lisa

Book Blurb Friday #55: Dangerous Waters

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:45:00 +0000

Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book.

Below is this week's "book cover," offered for our creative blurbs by the talented Kathy Matthews at Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy. My book blurb follows.

Dangerous Waters

(149 words)

Journalist Tracy Sanborn has earned the right to cover hard-hitting stories, so she’s unhappy when her new assignment is coverage of a fishing tournament in a remote coastal town in Oregon.

Tracy struggles to turn the fluff piece into worthy reading and finds it hopeless, until millionaire playboy Rand Bourdeaux enters the tournament and lands dead in the water—literally.

Tracy dogs the local sheriff, Hugh Danna, hoping for a scoop. Understaffed and overworked, Hugh agrees to a deal: If Tracy shares any information she uncovers, Hugh will give her the scoop on the official investigation.

But Tracy’s snooping dredges up old town secrets and buried scandals, muddying the investigation and leading into dangerous waters. Tracy calls on Hugh, and together they connect the past with the present, finally setting bait to catch a desperate killer who has no intention of being reeled in, and doesn't mind killing again.

To be sure that others can read your blurb, please put your name and link in Mr. Linky, below, if you are participating in Book Blurb Friday. If you have no blurb to share, please do not install a link. It will be treated as spam and removed. Thanks.

Please scroll past the Linky widget to see our "book cover" for next week.

Here is our "book cover" for next week's Book Blurb Friday #56, provided by Scott Liddell. I discovered Scott's considerable talent while perusing photos on Morguefile.com. I sent Scott an e-mail to thank him for use of a photo and told him about Book Blurb Friday. He very graciously granted approval for use of any and all of his wonderful photographs. Please click HERE to visit Scott's site. You'll be glad you did!

"Sumatran Tiger" photo by Scott Liddell.

When you post this photo on your page for BBF please credit Scott Liddell as the photographer. Thanks!

Thank you for participating in Book Blurb Friday. If you have any photos you think would be appropriate as a "book cover," please send them to me via email (writinginthebuff@hotmail.com).

See you next for Monday's microfiction. Have a great weekend!

Lisa

Hocus-Focus

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Photo courtesy of Scott Liddell (www.scottliddell.net). Great stuff!

If you’ve visited before then you know I sometimes grumble over the ways in which my mental acuity changed after I hit middle age. It isn’t that a trapdoor opened and all my brain power dropped out. No, the brain power is still safely ensconced in my noggin, thank goodness, and the ability to stuff new information in there continues to exist. The problem has to do with how everything is stored.

My brain used to keep everything alphabetized and compartmentalized. No more, buttercup. Like a roomful of unsupervised kindergarteners, it’s a free-for-all in there!

Focus. That’s what’s missing.

Focus is what glues my butt in the chair to write or get the bills paid on time. Focus is a skill I once possessed in abundance and wielded with ease. Nowadays, focus isn’t something I command, but something I hope and pray will appear. Sometimes it does; more often it abandons me to my random thoughts and wildly divided attention.

What I’m learning is that this whole focus thing is not unique to me, and that any number of people find that their ability to focus becomes compromised after a certain age. (Ha. That’s a diplomatic way of saying “we’re old baggers.”) So what to do?

If this were a fancy-schmancy blog I’d offer New Age strategies to harness one’s brain power and wrestle it into submission. I’d talk about meditation to find one’s personal foci and chi. I’d discuss feng shui and soothing lavender teas and aromatherapy. And I'd do it all with a British accent.

Sorry, buttercup! This is Writing in the Buff, where I’ve promised only the naked truth. So here it is, as clearly as I can state it: Old baggers do not excel at focusing.

Being an old bagger myself, I have a few suggestions that might help you feel better as you either speed along the highway toward Old Baggerdom or claim the banner as one who has already arrived. Here you go, free of charge:

·       *** Chocolate. Chocolate contains flavonoids which help reduce blood pressure, and a healthy blood pressure makes it easier to focus on stuff. So eat plenty of chocolate.

·       *** Foot massages. I have a theory that gentle pressure on the feet sends blood to the brain which enhances focus. There is no correlating scientific proof, but if you bring me chocolate and rub my feet I bet I can find a way to prove my point.

·       *** Hire a maid. Think about how focused you’ll be on important stuff when you are no longer responsible for cleaning the commode!

Please share your recommendations for improving focus and brain function. If it involves wine, days at the park, or movies starring Johnny Depp, count me in.

See you next for Book Blurb Friday!

Lisa

Blogger Boogered Up

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 01:16:00 +0000

Hey y'all. This is a quick message for those of you who visited and saw only the post from last Monday's microfiction. There are two subsequent posts, one on the 9th for Book Blurb Friday and a new post for today's microfiction (03/12/2012).

For some reason, Blogger is leading a few of you to the old post from the 5th and not displaying the two later posts. I can't explain it. Just another Blogger Booger. Try clicking the "home" tab under my blog header and see if that fixes it for you. Sorry for the mix up, and hope it fixes itself soon.

Lisa

Microfiction: Tom and Rocky's Reality

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Tom’s Plan

(138 characters)

Sly street cat Tom knew wearing the mask was a brilliant plan when he was mistaken for his old nemesis, Rocky, while ransacking the trash.

* * * *

Rocky’s Revenge

(140 characters)

Wily Rocky chortled when his archenemy Tom walked right into a raccoon trap, leaving the way clear for Rocky to pillage the trash with glee.

* * * *

Granny’s Solution

(138 characters)

Granny had no patience for cats or raccoons. She called her favorite TV personality to handle the problem: Billy the Exterminator.

* * * *

Serendipity!

(140 characters)

Billy the Exterminator knows a gold mine when he sees it and turns Tom and Rocky into reality TV stars. And that, my friend, is serendipity!

To read the microfiction stories of others participating in this meme, please click HERE.

Thanks for visiting! See you on Wednesday for the naked truth about . . . Focus.

Have a great week--
Lisa

Book Blurb Friday #54: A Clear View

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 01:14:00 +0000

Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book.

Below is this week's "book cover," offered for our creative blurbs by the talented Sandra Davies at Lines of Communication. My book blurb follows:

A Clear View

(144 words)

Gus Germaine is New Orleans’ most celebrated homicide detective, but he’s caught in a nightmare. A woman pushed to a violent death from her bedroom window is the wife of Congressmen William Wade; she also happens to be Gus’ long-time lover.

Unable to admit his relationship with the congressman’s wife, Gus feigns objectivity. But as the investigation gets underway, clues point to Gus as the murderer. He becomes tangled in a web of deceit, breaking every rule he is sworn to uphold.

After burying key information, Gus goes underground in pursuit of the truth. What follows is a heart-pounding race to catch his lover’s killer, but Gus ultimately realizes he is a pawn in someone’s high-stakes game. Gus must expose every lie and secret he’s struggled to hide, or risk being the next victim of a killer who has nothing left to lose.

Here is our "book cover" for next week's Book Blurb Friday #55, provided by my generous pal, Kathy Matthews at Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy.

Thanks for participating in Book Blurb Friday. If you have any photos you think would be appropriate as a "book cover," please send them to me via email (writinginthebuff@hotmail.com).

See you next for Monday's microfiction. Have a great weekend!

Lisa

Memory Madness: Dazed and Confused, Redux

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Wednesday greetings, y'all!

Today I'm offering a post first seen here at Writing in the Buff several years ago. Since every word is still painfully true, I feel no compunction about the re-post. Here's what prompted it.

For my daughter's recent birthday I had the bright idea to gift her with a 2-photo frame that would display a picture of her and her two siblings when they were little, and a second photo of the three of them taken recently. I knew exactly the photo I wanted to use from when they were little, and spent better than an hour hunting it down, to no avail. I looked behind other framed photos; I went through every loose photo--literally hundreds--in storage. I corralled my husband and older daughter to help me. After all this time and energy, my brain decided to give me a break and realization struck. The elusive photo was on my desk at work, in a lovely frame, where I've been enjoying it daily for almost five years. Oy.

It isn't a lie to say I scare myself sometimes.

Anyway, as this is still a very pertinent topic for me--and showing no signs of improvement--I offer the following re-post from February 2010 originally titled, "Dazed and Confused."

Memory is a remarkable thing. One minute you have it and the next—poof!—it runs off to play hide and seek. As you might guess, I have a theory about this. We’ll call it “Biology by Lisa” because that sounds trendier and more scientific than “The Old Bagger is At It Again”.

See, when we are youngsters, the gray cells aren’t really gray. In "Lisa's World” gray cells are more along the lines of bunny-nose-pink or robin’s egg blue. Something cheery. As we age, the cells morph to gray, and everyone knows that gray denotes old which equals things like skin tabs, stray chin hairs, and the dreaded Memory Vortex. I know old can equal happy things, too, but I forget what those are right now.

The Memory Vortex is familiar to everyone over the age of forty. It is that whirling mass of nebulous energy that draws into its center every bit of important information you swore you would never forget. C’mon, admit it. You have a Memory Vortex all your own. I’m so familiar with mine I named it Manny. Manny is the black hole in my gray cells that sucks in pertinent information and spits out trivia. How is it I can recall all of the words to Bobby Vinton’s “Blue Velvet” yet forget, for two weeks straight, to return my library books?

Manny is a twisted, Machiavellian, gray cell creation.

When my brain cells were bunny-nose-pink they had terrific recall. My memory was so keen edged my husband quaked in fear whenever I said anything that resembled, “I remember when. . .” He called me “his little elephant” which, now that I think about it, is not quite the compliment I supposed it to be. He needn’t fear, however; by the time I post this Manny will have sucked the whole memory into his belly and spit out something I didn’t know I knew.

Barbra Streisand’s “The Way We Were” played on the radio the other day. Why do I remember that Warren Beatty was first offered the part of Hubbell Gardner in the movie which was eventually played by Robert Redford, and that when Redford vacillated about it Ryan O’Neal was considered as an alternative? Why? Why do I have this stuff stuck in my brain? I don’t care about Hubbell Gardner. I want to remember to mail birthday cards on time and how to do algebra.

There should be a way to dye brain cells from gray back to Easter egg pastels. If I ever figure out how, I’ll let you know.

Aw, who am I kidding? Even if I do noodle it out, before I can share the revelation Manny will suck it up and spit out the lyrics to Led Zepplin’s “Dazed and Confused”. He’s got a real sense of humor, that Manny.

Til next time –

Lisa

Microfiction: Old Friends

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Welcome to today's microfiction!

Grandma's Goulash graciously hosts Succinctly Yours, the wonderful meme for those of us addicted to microfiction. The trick is to write a story in 140 characters or less using the photo below as inspiration. To add to the challenge is the word of the week, "saturate."

I know many of you look forward to visiting Writing in the Buff on Mondays for a morning chuckle. This week's photo struck a different chord in me. I hope you won't be disappointed with the serious tone of today's offering. My stories are below.

Old Friends: Melodious Memories

(105 characters)

The city’s clamor saturated the air, but the old friends heard only the sweet melody of distant memories.

* * * *

Old Friends: Colorful Memories

(134 characters)

Winter’s sky, saturated with sunset, reminded the old friends of their colorful past. “How terribly strange,” they agreed, “to be 70.”

You may recognize the above quote from the lyrics of "Old Friends," recorded by Simon and Garfunkel in 1968 for their album "Bookends." I was a child when I first heard the song, but even then the poignancy of the melody and lyrics touched me.

For your enjoyment, click below for a live version of Simon and Garfunkel performing "Old Friends." The album, "Bookends," was released in 1968 when both men were 27-years-old. It is noteworthy that both Simon and Garfunkel will turn 71 this year, in October and November, respectively.

To read the microfiction stories of others participating in this meme, please click HERE.

Thanks for visiting! See you on Wednesday for the naked truth about . . . Memory Madness.

Have a great week--
Lisa

Book Blurb #53: Pekoe-Boo Baby

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book.

Below is this week's "book cover," offered for our creative blurbs by the talented and generous Kathy Matthews at Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy. My book blurb follows.

Pekoe-Boo Baby

(147 words)

Earline Greyson inherited Pekoe-Boo Baby from her Aunt Isadora. The shop is a must-visit on Savannah’s famous River Walk, but not for its teas and spices. Legend claims a ghost is in residence, but Earline believes in the here and now, not the hereafter.

Her disbelief is tested with a teacup that disappears and reappears, a shelf of spices that refuse to stay alphabetized, and a pot of tea that brews itself.

Forced to acknowledge something bizarre is afoot, she grudgingly contacts well-known ghost hunter Milo Fogg, who arrives with his cynical grandson, Gavin.

While Milo hunts the ghost, Earline and Gavin pair up to uncover a logical explanation for the eerie happenings. But the answer isn’t simple and the deeper they dig, the worse things become, until it seems likely that Aunt Isadora was brewing something much hotter to handle than a simple cup of tea.

Black Holes and Birthdays

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Ricard Claro) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Black hole illustration courtesy of Brookhaven National Laboratory.

My youngest turned 18 this past weekend. Yikes!

Christina’s milestone birthday jolted me. How can my baby be 18 when she was born only yesterday? There’s a problem with the time/space continuum. That’s the only explanation.

Not only that, my daughter Stephanie will be 25 in April, and my son, Joey, will hit the big 3-0 in March. Whaaat?

So now I’m certain the time/space continuum anomaly isn’t operating alone. There’s also a black hole out there gulping entire decades in the flash of a hummingbird's wing. What is happening to the universe?

The real irony is that even if a method existed to induce that old black hole to regurgitate the time it’s stolen, I wouldn’t do it—and not just because that sounds really icky. I’m so in love with my kids the way they are today, right this minute, that no matter how wonderful they were way back when, it isn’t worth the risk of losing what exists right now. ‘Cause right now is terrific.

I admit to missing the tromping about of little feet. I miss the sticky kisses and the sweaty hugs, the munchkin voices and the silly games and songs. But, oh . . . what I have today!

Long conversations about life and love and dreams; about taxes and gas prices and college tuition; the weather, good books, spear fishing, and the pros and cons of tattoos. The hugs are frequent but not sweaty; the kisses are still spontaneous and sweet, but no longer sticky. I continue to laugh at the things my kids say, but now it is because of their sparkling wit rather than their misinterpretation of circumstances.

A pretty sweet deal, and one over which I’d do well not to quibble.

So the time/space continuum and its voracious companion, the black hole, continue to feast on days and years. That’s okay. While they’re digesting the past, I’m engaged in a banquet, feasting on the here and now. And it tastes delicious.

See you next for Book Blurb Friday!

Lisa