Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

Wow! What a hot week in my part of the world. September has gone barmy AND balmy! Some time ago I bought a laptop stand with its own in-built fan to keep the computer cool. It has proved to be a wise purchase. I just wish I came with an in-built fan. Could do with one right now.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Hope you have had a good day. Another hot one here. Hard to believe it is a year today since we lost Queen Elizabeth, a very much missed lady.

Am pleased to share the Benefits of Creativity, my latest post for Chandler’s Ford Today. I celebrate the joys of creativity in any form and share some of the benefits of any kind of creative activity. I couldn’t share them all but using more of your brain and keeping your brain active are just two major health benefits to being creative.

With many of the creative arts, there can be opportunities to get your work out there to a wider public too. I have made many friends thanks to being interested in creative writing and I treasure them all. Hope you enjoy the post and whatever form of creativity you enjoy. It is good for you!

The Benefits of Creativity

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I wasn’t sorry I had a swimming session in my diary today. It was lovely in the pool. I was only sorry to have to get out. This was especially nice after an afternoon spent putting wood preservative on a huge fence panel yesterday. Both were good workouts. One was much more fun than the other though!

Time for a rantette (and that should be a proper word): I sometimes get inappropriate comments on my posts. Every writer I know gets them. My specialism seems to be US Generals who all seem to be tragically widowed. Stay well clear, folks. At best this is a phishing exercise. At worse, it is an outright scam designed to trick you, hack your social media accounts etc.

To those who have been putting these things on my timeline, don’t. I delete and block. Where I don’t want to take a post down, I will put out a warning comment to others to advise to stay well clear. You are merely being a pain. I am here as a writer/editor, nothing else.

And those who claim to have tried to friend me in the normal way or don’t want to do that because it seems rude – you are lying. I know you are lying. Go away. You are being rude in putting comments like that on my timeline.

And it would not at all surprise me if I have someone put an inappropriate comment on this post but I thought I would put the word out anyway.

This did happen. I had someone query about the security of my account. Had absolutely nothing to do with this post as I pointed out. I urged them to re-read what I had actually said and pointed out this was a kind of public service announcement against scammers. Do be careful out there, folks. Oh and someone has tried to hack my Facebook account tonight (8th September 2023). Failed because I reported to Facebook I had NOT requested an account change reset. I suspect that someone might have been upset by this post but it is a warning to be vigiliant, always.

I had to deal with a nasty scam case which almost cleared my late father out. All sorted thankfully and Dad was recompensed too. But it has left me with a very loud alarm bell ringing in my head at anything that seems like a scam. I have a zero tolerance threshold for any kind of scam.

Mind you, it was very satisfying when those scammers tired to trick Dad again later. The second time they spoke to me. I was crystal clear in my opinions of them. You can imagine the rest! Dad had no further problems after that. Result!

Every so often I will write stories about scammers. No surprises to hear I always make sure they get their comeuppance. What is fun here is working out how (and I hope readers find that too). But I must admit they are such as joy to write. Well, they do say write what you know, don’t they?

Hope today has been okay. Another hot one in my part of the world. Managed to get another fence panel painted with wood preservative. Dried within minutes. Fortunately I am under good cover as there are huge trees near by so that was pleasant. Lady stays in – she is sensible with the heat and, more importantly, so are we with her – and I can’t trust her not to try to stick her head in the preservative tin! It is all glamour here – not!

I’ll be talking about the Benefits of Creativity for Chandler’s Ford Today later this week. Link up on Friday.
Will be running another flash fiction workshop on Zoom soon. Looking forward to that.

Writing Tip: Don’t worry about not having as much time as you would like to write. That is true for most of us. And you can still jot down ideas, start a draft in short pockets of time. I do this. Then when I have longer at my desk I have something to work on immediately. I like that. On the busy days, I still feel as if I have written something, which I have. I like that too.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest 100-word tale, Heaven Sent. See if my character thinks what the new new vicar has done is heavenly inspired or not! Hope you enjoy the story.

It is hard to believe that tomorrow (8th September 2023) will be the first anniversary of the late Queen’s passing. She is much missed.

But it led me to think that there are plenty of story ideas to be had/written on the theme of anniversaries. Anniversaries can be happy or sad. They can be something your character wants to remember or not. Maybe an anniversary makes them face up to something and they then take a different path in life. But there are story ideas here.

I used an anniversary of some adult children’s visit to their elderly father in Time for Tea in From Light to Dark and Back Again. Was all as it appeared to be?

Well, naturally I am not revealing that here but I liked the idea of using an anniversary in this way. It doesn’t have to be an “obvious” anniversary either, which gives even more leeway for a story to be created.

I often use random generators to help me get started on a new piece of flash. What I especially like is when one prompt generated this way gives me two ideas for stories. I just send the resulting tales to different places.

I have found it pays to set parameters for what I generate. I have found limiting myself to say two or three things generated at a time is effective. Stops me feeling swamped too.

It is an odd thing but I have found limits like word count etc encourage creativity rather than stifle it. I guess it is because these things make you focus.

Fairytales with Bite – The Changing Seasons

In your magical setting, does the changing seasons have an effect on how well your characters can do magic? Is magical power less in the winter, for example, for does the colder time of year (or other way of marking time span) fuel magic? Do your characters on a personal level have times when they know they will do well magically and other times they won’t and this is due to their own biology? What problems could this cause them?

Does your magical setting have changes of season as we know them? Or do they have their own? Or is a question of both? I would have thought there would need to be a planting season and a harvesting season to say the least. Everyone needs to eat. But how would this affect how magic is used? Is it used in the production of food at all? Can climatic seasons override magical seasons?

How do your characters respond to changes in season? How well or otherwise would this affect the outcome of their stories? Could other characters use this against them?

This World and Others – The Natural World versus the Magical One

Following on from Fairytales With Bite, is your world setting more of a naturally based one or a magical one? What happens when these come into conflict? What is valued the most?

Does the magical element need the natural side to help it exist at all or it is a case the magical side brought the natural one into being in the first place and there is now co-dependency?

Can the natural world overcome the magical one? Earthquakes etc are not great news or anyone. Would magic be able to stop these things? Is your world reliant on magic stopping things like that and could someone exploit this to hold your world to ransom?

Story possibilities there, I think!

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

Heaven Sent, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/X0ZpJp3R2U Am pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest 100-word tale, Heaven Sent. See if my character thinks what the new new vicar has done is heavenly inspired or not! Hope you enjoy the story. pic.twitter.com/CIwzSIMkwu

— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) September 8, 2023

The Benefits of Creativity https://t.co/RYglq1rWbw Am pleased to share the Benefits of Creativity for CFT. I share some of the benefits of any creative activity. Using more of your brain and keeping your brain active are just two major health benefits. Hope you enjoy the post.

— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) September 8, 2023