Thanks to Teresa of MindLoveMisery’s Menagerie for hosting Saturday Mix. Saturday’s prompt was to write pasturel poetry (Fiction/no fiction) which is essentially poetry written about nature in an idyllic way.
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Credit: Eden Hills
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The beauty of my love is sweet, divinely prized.
Through fields of wildflower I follow her steps,
Her milk white skin, soft, supple; she knows best,
How tiny goat kids, and dog’s pups will thrive.
They bleet, whimper, for her hands petting coats,
Feeding them drops of milk reviving life’s hope.
So they wil live glorious in pastures kind;
Become adults frolic, following my queen.
The beauty of my love is sweet, divinely prized.
The beauty of my love is sweet, divinely prized,
She gathers the chickens eggs to feed,
Those who grace her kitchen with smiles pleased.
Finds the dairy cows, milks them all beguiling.
She’s a feminist, believes we never stop learning.
She chose to farm, grows organic food, serves —
Customers desiring; at market they find hers first;
My love works hard, adores our life, she’s pleased.
Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt us “to write a poem that incorporates overheard speech, I’m using a part of song lyrics.” The A to Z Challenge for a GoodRead’s author’s Quote is for the letter R. Also I’m incorporating MindLoveMisery’s Menagerie Music Prompt on the Dolly Parton Song “Jolene” performed recently with the a capella group Pentatonix.
Today’s NaPoWriMo is to “write a poem that explicitly incorporates alliteration (the use of repeated consonant sounds) and assonance (the use of repeated vowel sounds).” For A to Z Challenge the GoodReads quote is from the letter L. As well, thanks to Pricless Joy for hosting FFftAW.
Credit: Maria of Doodles and Scribbes
“The thing about love is that you will never run out of it. It’s an ever-flowing river. So go ahead and LOVE. What are you saving all this love for — death?” ― Kamand Kojouri
The river she flows fluent, flourishing in her mad descent,
Rapids, water reeling past rocks leading her to a path of providence.
Fast, and fleet, a river rivaling; I’ve experienced —
On the weary trail, the river cutting, crushing the rocks.
She carves her path, ploughing silt to the shore,
Debris of dramatic, erosion deciding on the the crooked carved path.
The water, she must flow, finding her fabulous spark in the light of —
Lumionous sunlight, searing in the afternoon heat.
For this river runs through the desert, the orange, organic trails,
Mixed with red-rock, rizing in the Arizona afternoon.
Cliffs creating a canyon so deep and wide, where the water dances through.
No one to stop her destruction of rock, her pounding so hard it hurts,
But the river rivals all, keeps on carving her way —
Through the canyon cringing, when she chops off more silt.
Off its brilliant fire, she finds a place where the —
River rests in waterfalls crashing and carniverous,
Then she wanes as she reaches shore and and lays back breathing,
At ease, she is pleased and settles,
Against the sand of some beach, somewhere; she’s oblivious —
Goodmorning and welcome to my biweekly interview series. Today I have the honor of sharing with you the writing and blog ofIan Kelly. He’s a talented guy who has recently published a book of short stories. You can find Ian’s blog here: Ian Kelly Writing.
Credit: Ian Kelly
1. Hi Ian, Please Tell Us About Yourself?
Hi. My name is Iain Kelly and I’m from Glasgow in Scotland. I have lived here all my life and it’s where I write my blog from. My blog is called: Iain Kelly Writing.
Telling about yourself is always the most difficult question to answer, so I’ll keep it simple! I work as an editor of television programs for BBC Scotland. I’m married with two-year-old twins who take up most of my time. After work and family if I have any time left I like to write.
2. When Did You Begin Writing and Blogging?
I first started my blog six years ago and spent a year doing film and book reviews. I neglected it for a couple of years and then took a fiction writing course online.When I had finished that I had a few short pieces that I liked and decided to share them on my blog. From there I have kept writing new short stories and flash fiction.
“After work and family if I have any time left I like to write.” – Ian Kelly
3. What Does Writing Mean To You? Why Do You Write?
When I was much younger I wrote stories. I have always enjoyed coming up with characters, letting my imagination wander with them and see what stories resulted.I used to play football (soccer) and would write stories about fictional football teams and players. As often happens, life gets in the way of dreams.
I went to university and studied English Literature, Film, and Television. My career took me down the path of television. Eventually, I’ve found the writing bug again. Writing is a chance to escape everyday life and I love being able to imagine the lives of many different people in places around the world. I enjoy thinking of the stories that could happen there.
4. Where Do You Find Your Inspiration and Motivation to Write?
I tend to write fiction based on real life, or perhaps a fictional future world rooted in reality. I don’t tend to write fantasy or science-fiction specifically. My inspiration comes from the world around us. It could be something happening in the news, events, politics, but also from looking at everyday people, the struggles and/or laughter they share with each other. My motivation may come from wanting to try and comment on events that are occuring. Writing is a way to turn frustration into something creative or to attempt to cope with a situation in life.
“Writing is a chance to escape everyday life and I love being able to imagine the lives of many different people in places around the world. I enjoy thinking of the stories that could happen there.” – Ian Kelly
5. Is There a Time of Day You Prefer to Write?
My time available to write depends on my work schedule and my children. When the kids have gone to bed in the evening I try to fit some time writing in. Or if the twins go for a nap during the day sometimes I have a chance to write. The main thing is that I have to find the opportunities to write when I can!
6. What Are Your Most Current Writing/Blogging Projects? Any Hopeful Projects for the Future?
At the moment I am working on my first novel-length story. I would say I’m about a quarter of the way through the first draft.I have the characters and the main story figured out, so the next couple of months will be dedicated to getting my head down and finishing the story.
After the first draft is finished I will re-write and edit. I’m aiming to have a finished novel by the end of the year and then decide what I want to do with it –- if it’s worth sending to a publishing company or self-publishing the novel.
Alongside that, I will continue writing short pieces for my blog. It helps to take a break from a long novel and focus the mind on something different every so often, before going back to the main project.
“At the moment I am working on my first novel length story. I would say I’m about a quarter of the way through the first draft. I have the characters and the main story figured out, so the next couple of months will be dedicated to getting my head down and finishing the story.” – Ian Kelly
7. Can You Tell Us About Your Recently Published Book?
At the start of this year, I self-published a collection of my short stories from my blog in a book calledCollected Sketches. I decided to do this at the end of 2016. I realized I had a lot of stories, some with similar themes and dealing with similar issues, that I thought were quite good and worth collecting together as a compendium.
The other benefit of publishing theses stories was that it gave me a chance to try self-publishing out for myself which I hadn’t done or considered doing before. I’m pleased with how my book turned out. It’s available to a global audience through on Amazon: HERE, which is an amazing thing to happen to my writing. You can find out about Collected Sketches by Ian Kelly on my blog or through Kindle on Amazon.com
Credit: Amazon.com – ‘Collected Sketches’ by Ian Kelly
8. Can You Briefly Describe Your Writing Process that You Went Through To Publish?
I used Createspaceonline to self-publish. After looking around at a few online resources I went for this one mainly because it was free to do, and also it allowed me to do everything myself. Other sites offered help in editing and formatting and design, but at a cost.
If you’re confident to do these things yourself then Createspaceis excellent.With the novel I am currently writing, I plan to try the traditional route of sending it to agents and publishers. But it is good to know that if all else fails I can self-publish and still have my novel out there into the world. Here is the link to CreatespaceHERE.
9. What Is Your Writing Process Like?
I think I’m still figuring my writing process out as I go through this novel. Most writers advise that the best thing to do is write the first draft as it comes to you.Whatever happens, keep writing! So I’m following that advice.
I already know there is a lot of it I will return to and completely rewrite but this way allows the story, plot, and characters to spill out and take form, freely. I will go back and finesse that raw material. I enjoy the editing part of writing probably more than the initial writing.Doing flash fiction short stories is great practice for that.
“I already know there is a lot of it I will return to and completely rewrite but this way allows the story, plot, and characters to spill out and take form freely. I will go back and finesse that raw material. I enjoy the editing part of writing probably more than the initial writing.” – Ian Kelly
10. Do You Have Certain Genres You Prefer to Write or To Read Books In?
I tend to stick to everyday drama or real world stories. But I also love to read and write spy stories, war fiction, and crime fiction. I might occasionally try other things too.
I spend a lot of time reading. Favorite authors would be John Le Carre, Martin Cruz Smith, Agatha Christie, James Ellroy, Ian McEwan, William Boyd, Ian Fleming, and Terry Pratchett –- to name a few. I also like to try and go back and read the classics every so often such as Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and I love Alexandre Dumas and The Three Musketeer novels. I think that comes from my days as a student of English Literature.
11. Do You Have Any Advice For Other Writers? Do You Have Any Favorite Blogs You Like To Follow?
Just keep writing and getting your work out there into the world for people to read. Ninty-Nine Percent of people will be kind to you and give constructive criticism and feedback. If you love doing it, keep doing it. And read lots too.
I follow loads of great fiction writers out there so rather than trying to pick from them I will pick three alternatives:
One for writing prompts is a relatively new flash fiction challenge called‘What Pegman Saw’ which uses Google Maps as a prompt each week to give a location to inspire stories. It’s a great idea and means I learn a lot about various places around the world, as well as writing stories.
I don’t really do film reviews anymore, but one of the best blogs that I follow for all things film-related, including reviews isThe Snooty Ushers at which one of my friends from University days contributes to. Great reviews and doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Finally, Joanne Kelly Art and Design. I am biased but my wife Joanne has her own blog. She is a graphic designer and artist and has started creating works both by hand and on computer software.Some great stuff, so I hope people will check it out.
14. Can You Please Share With Us A Few Links From Your Blog?
Flash Fiction, I have always liked this one, to sum up being a writer:
“The Writer’s Spiral”
By Ian Kelly
***
Credit: Joy Pixley
***
Mark met Bob from Accounting at the bottom of the stairs.
‘Another Monday morning,’ said Bob, as they began the trudge up to the office. Mark grunted in reply. Bob began every Monday with the same conversation.
‘Don’t you ever feel like we’re hamsters in a wheel, going round and round and getting nowhere?’ Bob continued. ‘There must be something more exciting in life than this.’
As Mark prepared to answer, the lights went out. Out of the window, they saw bright orange beams cut through the air. Aircraft buzzed around them, firing at one another. Buildings exploded as aircraft and missiles crashed into them. The sky darkened as a large spaceship loomed over the city. Mark ducked as a piece of debris crashed through the glass next to them. It caught Bob and sent him plummeting to the ground below.
***
The writer paused and read back what he had just typed. It all spiraled out of control too quickly. He sighed and pressed Ctrl+A and Delete. The cursor on the blank screen blinked at him. He started again.
***
Mark arrived at work at the same time as Bob from Accounting…
Here Are Some Of Ian’s Longer Pieces he wrote and favorited:
Thank you so much, Ian, for wanting to be interviewed I enjoyed your answers and you seem to have a solid idea of what you’re doing as a writer and how to achieve your set goals. Best of luck with the novel and future endeavours.
If you would like to be interviewed please reach out to me on my contact page. I would love to tell your story as a writer or if you blog for a cause, I can also interview on that as well. See you in two weeks!
Good Afternoon everyone. I’m back with some of my favourite beauty products I’ve tried since my Fall Beauty Haul. I hope you like the products and find some you can incorporate into your own beauty routine.
Benefit Cosmetics: Browvo Conditioning Primer (www.sephora.ca) – $36.00 CAN
This wasn’t a product I went out and bought, but I received the full-sized product with a coupon code from Sephora. Its a product part of Benefit’s recently revamped brow line since brows have become a big deal these past two-years where makeup is concerned.
I haven’t used this product long, only a week, but I wanted to include it in the Beauty Haul. So far I enjoy the product and it makes my brows feel soft. You don’t have to wear other brow products on top of it. If you want, you can wear Browvo alone. Basically, Browvo’s a pen and you squeeze some of the conditioning product out. There is a soft rubber comb you can use to brush it on your eyebrows.
The biggest feature I think of this is product, is that it is conditioning so if you have sparse brows, this makes them appear “fuller, thicker, and healthier.” Browvo is a “nutrient rich” conditioning formula with “keratin” and “soy proteins.” These ingredients are known to help brows appear fuller.
For women who have either over-plucked their own brows or gone to places to have their brows waxed and had them waxed and shaped too thin for a long time, Browvo is fantastic product for you to try out. Also if you find the pencil or gel you are filling in your brows with doesn’t last, Browvo is a brow primer and will aid you in keeping your brow makeup in place.
My brows have always been on the fuller side so even though my brows feel nice when I put Browvo on, it’s not a product I would purchase because I don’t think its a product marketed to me but to women who have sparser brows. If I needed primer on my brows I would use my usual face primer which is POREfessional primer from Benefit.
Benefit Cosmetics: ka-Brow Cream Gel Brown Colour with Brush -www.spehora.ca – $30.00 CAN
On a different makeup order, I received a full-sized sample of Benefit’s of ka-Brow. I’ve been using it a few weeks and its a great product actually. Ka-Brow is a cream gel product you use to fill in your eyebrows, instead of a pencil or other brow products. I’ve never used a gel product on my eyebrows, so I was eager to try ka-Brow out.
The lid comes of this product and you pull off the brush as well, to dip it into the brow gel container which is on the bottom of the product as you can see. It can be difficult to tell at first, how much of the gel you need to use to fill in your eyebrows. I found a little ka-Brow goes a long way. The brush is tiny and it’s easy to fill in your brow more naturally, with tiny strokes. Or to make your brows look more defined by using thicker swipes of ka-Brow on your eye brows.
The product promises to “fill,” “sculpt,” and “define brows.” You can build it from a “natural” look to a more “dramatic” one quite easily with ka-Brow as I mentioned. Ka-brow is also Waterproof and lasts 24 Hours.
I had never considered using a gel product such as ka-Brow to fill in my brows.I am quite happy to use a brow pencil which is soft but not too soft. I find despite using ka-Brow, I require Benefit’s blond brow gel over top to set the product.
I’m undecided about using ka-Brow over a pencil such as an Anastasia Brow Pencil I’d been using before trying this product. Ka-Brow can accidentally be put on quite too thick and I don’t know how long it lasts compared to a brow pencil. A good brow pencil such as one from Anastasia, lasts me three-months. So I’ll see if this product lasts another couple of months.
There is nothing wrong with ka-Brow. It works well, and I chose the shade o1 Platinum for blonds and the colour is perfect; however, it’s up to you what products you prefer to use on your eyebrows and how much you can afford to spend on a brow product for how long it lasts. I haven’t decided if I like this product enough to buy it again.
L’Oreal Voluminous Butterfly INTENZA Waterproof Mascara -(www.ulta.com) – $8.99 US or at Shoppers Drug Mart $8.99 CAN on Sale.
I admit, I’m a mascara junky. Out of all the products I use, mascara is the one I change the most often. My last one from Make Up Forever, I ended up loving in the end, except that the brush which covered every tiny lash, made mascara go all over my eye area and the mascara didn’t appear to have such a volumizing effect as I was hoping for. So for over top, I bought this L’Oreal mascara from Shoppers Drug Mart and it worked extremely well to use over top the Make Up Forever Mascara and fill out my eyelashes.
I find myself consistently going back to L’Orealmascaras because they reliably, time and again, have well priced mascaras which do the same job as most mascaras in the $30.oo to $40.00 range.
For L’Oreal you are only paying around $10 CAN for their mascara. It’s a shame when you buy an expensive mascara and hate it. But if you don’t like a cheaper mascara it isn’t such a big deal if it doesn’t work out. The only difference I can say between say L’Orealmascaras and expensive mascaras such as Dior, is that mascaras such as Dior, have fantastic black or brown colour pigment.
However, I do tend to receive many beauty samples, especially in mascara. I will try out a new mascaras a sample from a more expensive brand, and put the L’Oreal over top to set a non-waterproof mascara (because it runs under my eyes) and to add a little extra volume if needed. I completely recommend this L’Oreal mascara and many other kinds of L’Orealmascara, as long as the mascara is waterproolipf.
Make Up Forever: Artist Plexi-Gloss in 209 Fuchsia – Pink -www.sephora.ca – $24.00 CAN
Lately, I find myself becoming more interested in lip products.For most of my twenties, lip gloss or lipstick in a light pink was fine for going out or during the day. Now I find I enjoy wearing a bit of colour on my lips because you can wear a bold lip and wear hardly any other makeup than a bit of mascara, eyeliner, and concealer.
Usually, I like to wear makeup but every once and a while, if I’m just running quick errands and than going home, I don’t feel like putting all the effort into doing my full makeup routine. My pet peeve about lipsticks and glosses is in a way, the same way I feel about mascaras: I hate when I buy a more expensive lipstick or gloss and it comes off right away, the first time you have a glass of water. Also, I hate that many lip glosses can be sticky.
This is not the case with Make Up Forever’s Artist Plexi-Gloss. It’s super amazing stuff and you can buy it many colours in a high shine finish or in a shimmer finish. The colour I bought was a Fuchsia Pink and it’s amazing. I’m not huge on bright red lipstick as you know, but this is my trade off. I love wearing this bright shade some days, and it stays on incredibly well through drinking, eating, and whatever else you’re doing. I’m so pleased by how long the colour lasts.
Besides the brilliant colours this Artist Plexi-Gloss has an artist designed foam applicator (a”superflex” tip) which is amazing for applying the gloss and having “precision and control,” while doing it. As well, I enjoy that the Plexi-Gloss is shiny but not super shiny such as many sticky lip glosses or moisturizing lipsticks. Plexi-Gloss is more akin to lipstick with shine, the colour is so intense. I highly recommend this lip product; it is most certainly worth the $24.00 CAN.
Laneige: Multiberry Yogurt Repairing Mask – For All Skin – http://www.sephora.ca – $33.00 CAN
I’ve hardly ever had a problem with dry skin in my entire life. My problem has always been oily skin. Being a couple of years into my thirties, I find my skin is changing a bit. It has become more dry. The chilly -25 degrees Celsius weather we are experiencing in Alberta, Canada isn’t helping my dry skin either.
Having had troubles with many skin products in the past, I’m always hesitant about different face masks and other brands of skincare. But I’ve been so pleased with a newer brand to Sephora called Laneige. I’ve tried a couple small one or two day samples of their products. But also with my Sephora points, bought a large sample of Laneige’s Multiberry Yogurt Repairing Mask.
It smells wonderful, a bit as yogurt of course, but also as strawberries. The sample I received which was (0.6 fl.oz), lasted two-months and I’ve been used this moisturizing mask every two-days as directed. This Yogurt Repairing Mask is put it on after using your toner. You leave the mask on for five to ten minutes and then gently rinse it off your face with lukewarm water. After you can apply any other creams or your moisturizers you use to your face.
I wake the next morning after using this Yogurt Repairing Mask and my skin feels soft and hydrated. It’s not dry as my skin has often been feeling lately. I did go and purchase this from Sephora, it was highly worth it.
Laneige’s Multiberry Yogurt Repairing Mask delivers “nutrition” and “antioxidants” deep into skin. It is formulated to “remove dead skin” from the surface of your face. Its unique “fermented yogurt” formula provides “anti-irritation” benefits to the skin. Not to mention, I’ve never once broken out after using this mask the next day or any days after. I’m excited to maybe try other products from Laneige’s skin care line. I most definitively recommend this mask and I think for how long the product lasts, the price is reasonable.
Please stay tuned for Part Two of my Winter 2016/2017 Beauty Haul!
Mandibelle16 
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