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It’s Been a While

Hello everyone!

I know I’ve been gone for too long. When deciding to take the break, I never imagined time would slip so quickly past me and leave me wondering where it went. It has just flown by for a variety of reasons and now, I’m trying to get back into the swing of things.

First off, I had an amazing seasonal job for November and December. Management was awesome, coworkers were just great, and it was a fun environment. There were a lot of us seasonals and they definitely want some of us back, but they had no room to add any of us to their store’s roster. That sucked, but I continued on enjoying the job for as long as I could.

Then came January. My birth month. After Christmas, which I always find stressful, I didn’t want to deal with getting older and feeling further behind in life. I was left to find another, most likely part-time, job during the slowest hiring period of the year. January went by and February without hearing anything back or seeing any “good” job postings.

But then March appeared. Interviews were aplenty and was told by one potential employer I was overqualified for what she wanted. That felt great to hear after feeling worthless. I was offered two jobs though and was getting ready to do my first shift when non-essential businesses were shut down.

Covid-19 had officially reared its ugly head and continues to keep many Canadians confined indoors and away from work. On this note, I would like to say I hope everyone out there is safe and healthy and finding ways to keep afloat emotionally despite this pandemic. If you or others you know have it, I hope you recover quickly and are self-isolating safely. I’m glad world leaders are taking it seriously and are continuing to do what they can to eliminate its risk to all of us. It’s on all of us to do our part and support those who work in healthcare or other essential business fields by practising proper hygiene and limiting our trips outside.

Despite the negativity coming with Covid-19, I have decided to use this time to return to things I thought were best left forgotten or explored. I applied to a local college for Pre-Health and hope to do well in it to pursue nursing. Helping others is something I’ve always wanted to do and I try to put others before me most of the time. (That can be viewed as a negative habit and it can be so I’m working on moderating it). I’m excited for where this journey will take me!

Since being cooped up, I’ve also been working on my book and finally have it set up as an e-book on amazon! It is available to pre-order through this link https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B086VQFNGT?ref_=pe_1724030_132998070 and if you want to check it out, I encourage it! It will be fully available on April 17th, 2020! Still gotta work on a decent profile pic and bio for the author part, so I appreciate any tips you guys can give me!

In conclusion (that sounds so formal), I think that sums up the big things that have happened since I signed off in October. Please reach out to me on twitter @KEMwriting or in the comments below and let me know how you’re doing!

Stay safe and healthy!

BraveWrite, Week 1

Happy rainy Thursday! This was meant to go up yesterday but time got away from me.

This is one of the prompts I have started to do on Twitter and I plan for it to up on Wednesdays. Make it a… Hump Day sort of thing.

Just like the very short stories, the prompt word has the ‘#’ in front of it. Feel free to take those words and write something around them, inspired by them, or etc!

 

Hope you enjoy!

 

September 5th

Her nature was #bellicose in every sense of the word. Small issues became fixed grudges that called for violence in hopes of resolution.

But she tamped down the need for confrontation. You catch flies with honey, not vinegar, she reminded herself and forced a smile.

 

September 6th

His bare feet carried him further from the house he had called home. The cries, shattered dishes, and poorly patched walls were behind him. His tears blurred his vision but the bite of gravel told him to stop.

Sat under the oak tree, his mother’s voice screamed, #skedaddle, again

 

September 7th

She twittered about her cabin, attuned to its energies, and grabbed various vials. With measuring spoons and cups, she poured ingredients into the cast iron cauldron and stirred.

Singing the spell, her #melange bubbled and simmered the rainbow of colors. It was done

 

September 8th

She would serve as the #conduit tonight and the fear it sent through her curled her toes. Shivers ran down her spine and her heart beat furiously inside her chest. She was suffocating within her own skin and helpless against their wishes.

She heard them call her.

 

September 9th

His mind created insults as sharp as blade to slay himself. The words were grenades, blasting him #asunder. The onslaught was endless, the booms echoing in an eternity of repetition. His skin tingled to life as his heart wished to crumble. He continued on in his shell.

 

September 10th

#Prisms were transparent, relaying rainbows across the world. Their presence a blessing, a joy, uplifting to those with one in their life.She was scarred, cracked. She absorbed the dark like a sponge and kept it to herself. Basked in it. No #prism to shine light.

Anxious Honesty

The voice in my head is telling me I’ve wasted two years on a dream that will never come true. I had a book idea and I ran with it. I didn’t fight hard enough for it though.

More and more, my husband seems to get mad that I’m not working on my book. That I’m not bringing in any money. That I’m just ‘lounging’ around the house.

It doesn’t matter that I clean the house top to bottom by myself. I weed the gardens and mow the lawn and whippersnip, by myself. I feed the cats and dogs day and night by myself. I do the laundry, by myself. I make the appointments for both of us. Keep a running list of things. Try to be the voice of reason more often than not. (I will admit he helps on occasion, but not near enough…)

I wish I was bringing in money. I wish I had fought harder for my book. It feels like the only choice is to abandon it entirely. It’s not what I want, but I always put everyone else ahead of me.

But then that leaves me with a blog and a twitter account that serve no real purpose anymore, right?

So, I’ve applied to part-time jobs in the mean time. I’ve started freelance transcribing again for Rev. I’ve created a Ko-Fi account in hopes of some additional help so that I can keep writing.

I want to keep writing, I really do, but this voice tells me there’s no point anymore. If I was really passionate about it, I’d be somewhere other than editing, right?

Anyways, that’s the end, (I think), of my self-pitying post. I had to say it before it ate me alive though I still think it might.

 

https://ko-fi.com/kemwriting is the link to donate to my creative path. I’m sure after a decent cry, I’ll be up to fighting again…

Blogger Recognition Award

Blogger.Recognition.Award

 

 

Today, I was nominated for the Blogger Recognition Award, and that blew me away! I couldn’t believe it, and it gives me a chance to thank some great followers.

Thank you, Charli Dee ( https://lifewithcharli.home.blog/ ) for nominating me! I really appreciate it, and love the support you’ve given me! Your blog has been awesome to follow with the different things you talk about, and I always look forward to your posts.

Now about the Blogger Recognition Award:

The Blogger Recognition Award is an online award given by bloggers to other bloggers. It is a way to recognize the work of other bloggers, and award them for the work they put into putting out blog posts. It is definitely hard work, so I’m very honored to be receiving this award!

Rules:

  1. Thank the nominator, and publish a post on your blog about receiving the Blogger Recognition Award. Make sure to provide a link to the nominator’s blog in your post.
  2. Give a brief story of how your blog started.
  3. Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.
  4. Nominate 10-15 other bloggers for this award, and inform them of their nomination.

How My Blog Started

Kem’s Journey started out as a way to motivate me to keep writing, and it has helped immensely in that regard. It doesn’t hurt that I am building a following, and this blog encouraged me to explore other social media platforms like Twitter (@KEMwriting). There are so many amazing people out there who ask great questions, provide informing answers, and offer support on bad days. My blog may have started out in one place, but it has taken me to others on the way!

While I keep working away on my book, I post my other attempts in the realm of writing. I have enjoyed writing and reading since I was a child, and I wish I had of kept at it instead of waiting to pick it back up! I now call myself a writer (regardless of not being published), and it is going to stay that way!

Advice to New Bloggers

I’m not sure I am really qualified to give advice in this regard as I’m pretty much winging it. I guess I’ll make an attempt.

  1. Take the time to read other people’s blogs and comment when you can. Some of these connections will be genuine and worth the world. Bloggers should support each other when able, and you’ll need it at the end of the day, too.
  2. Find your voice, your reason, your meaning, and talk about it! You’ll stray every now and then, and that’s fine! Just remember your blog is about you and your PASSION so embrace it, and talk about it!
  3. Make the time for your blog now, because you will regret it later if you don’t! I try and post something every day, but there are times when I don’t. You got to get back up, though, and write that post.

Nominees

  1. Weronika Donovan – https://painted-poems.blog/
  2. Buddhadosha – https://dkflosi.wordpress.com/
  3. Ilona Pulianauskaite – https://easydiet.blog/
  4. Cristian Mihai – https://cristianmihai.net/  and/or  https://artofblogging.net/
  5. Peter Edwards – https://littlefears.co.uk/
  6. Luna – https://lunatheblog.com/
  7. A Collective of Individuals – https://pointlessoverthinking.com/
  8. Elizabeth Ramadi – https://poetkisses.blog/
  9. CJ Porter – https://potheadtoprovidence.com/
  10. Frank Solanki – https://franksolanki.com/
  11. https://shortstoryscribe.wordpress.com/
  12. https://theintrospectivescribbleronline.wordpress.com/
  13. https://pmuink.com/
  14. https://dirtyscifibuddha.com/
  15. https://thematicallymeandering.com/

 

A New Project For Me

Writing has always been a passion of mine. It may have been forgotten for spans of time, but I have enjoyed it since I was a child. While it is a hard thing to do, you can only improve, right?

So, in an attempt to improve my craft, I am going to start tweeting a #vss365 every day.

For those of you not sure what that means, vss stands for Very Short Story (the length of a tweet) and 365 means to do every day in a year. I am sure there will be times when I am unable to complete the task, but I am making the attempt.

But, instead of inundating my followers and readers everyday with a new one, I am going to post them once a week. They will be dated and I will leave the prompt word with # to indicate it.

Since Wednesday is an odd date to start, I am going to share today’s attempt (and my first). Afterwards, I hope to do it every Monday.

Here’s today’s:

The covered the coarseness of the room, calming it into a beauty, but she could only hate it. It is a mask, a facade, she thought as her eyes longed for the rugged stone and rough wood beneath it. “Why must we hide the beauty of truth?”

 

Twitter: @KEMwriting

Instagram: kemfromhome