Writer’s Quote Wednesday – M J Mallon YA Author and Poet

Writer’s Quote Wednesday, BeWow, and Weekly Smile.

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This is a triple whammy post – a smile that knows no blogging boundaries, in fact this smile has been released into the atmosphere – it’s a soaring balloon of a smile!

I hope you like the quote that I wrote:

There’s nothing quite like a smile. It’ll brighten the day for you, and you and you. It’s infectious, a bug with no cure, so rush out and crack open a smile today. Don’t delay! Make it stay! Don’t delay! Make it Stay! Allow it to sashay, party and play…. Let it fly, float and frolic on your mischievous lips….

This Wednesday I’m doing this triple smiley post for Colleen’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday, Ronovan’s #BeWow, and Trent’s #TheWeeklySmile.

It’s true what they say about a smile, it is the universal language of happiness. So today, being that it is the end of the school term, and as of Wednesday afternoon I’m on holiday… Yippee…. I thought I’d test it out in the playground while I’m supervising the children and see what kind of response I get… Can you be firm but smiley? Is that possible? Would they pay attention if I tell them off/ask them to do something with a smile? This might be quite a challenge…

Well what happened?

I had a really bad sleep and I was feeling a bit grumpy and tired!! And not very smiley at all. Typical. The sun went behind a cloud and the day was cold, grey and overcast. But on the bright side it didn’t rain.

Luckily I managed a few smiles, no one was particularly naughty, at least I didn’t notice any behaviour that warranted telling off. But, I tend to be a pretty chilled out kind of lass and don’t get bothered by much. Though I did come across a few problems, there was a young girl on the verge of an asthma attack, another girl cut her knee, a boy complained someone hurt him, and there was the case of a book of puzzles left on the bench…… Who did it belong to? Why had it been left? A mystery in the making…….

Here are some wonderfully smiley quotes from The Fresh Quotes to get you in the smiley mood for half term….. or just to give you a bit of a lift mid week.

All people smile in the same language.

Use your smile to change the world don’t let the world change your smile.

You are never fully dressed without a smile.

A laugh is a smile that bursts.

The world always looks brighter from behind a smile.

Courtesy of The Fresh Quotes: http://www.thefreshquotes.com/goodbye-quotes-farewell/dont-cry-because-its-over-smile-because-it-happened/

And Dr Seuss, is a fund of great advice:

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”
― Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss really does know a thing or two…

And I came across this wonderful quote – which really sums it up – we’re alive… isn’t that something?

“If you’re reading this…
Congratulations, you’re alive.
If that’s not something to smile about,
then I don’t know what is.”
― Chad Sugg, Monsters Under Your Head

So true!

Goodreads synopsis and Author Bio of Monsters Under Your Head:

Monsters Under Your Head is a poetry book about life in the words of someone who’s just as lost in it as you.

Chad Sugg’s first poetry book, Monsters Under Your Head, is often quoted to great lengths since its release thanks to the internet age. The book is one of two self-published poetry collections Chad has released over the past half-decade.

Chad was able to launch his poetry from the success of his musical career, where since 2004 he has been releasing original music under the moniker Backseat Goodbye, as well as most recently under his real name.

Do join in Colleen’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday and Ronovan’s BeWow:

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http://silverthreading.com/2016/03/02/wqw-writers-quote-wednesday-bewow-be-writing-on-wednesday-poet-mary-webb/

And don’t forget Trent’s weekly smile – here’s the link:

https://trentsworldblog.wordpress.com/the-weekly-smile-weeklysmile/

Bye for now, keep on smiling!

Even if you come across a few prickly cacti moments during your day!

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Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

One-Liner Wednesday, Writers Quote Wednesday and #BeWow: Coffee

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I had the idea for Linda’s One Liner Wednesday #1linerWeds after reading fellow blogger, Brian Lageose’s post about the woes of aging: https://lageose.wordpress.com/2013/10/25/10-more-signs-that-your-body-just-isnt-what-it-used-to-be/

My one liner is: He would kill for a coffee.

Brian’s wonderful post has a multitude of one liners which I have highlighted below in bold. These ones particularly made me laugh:

You wake up in the morning and you aren’t really sure who you are.

Tick. Sometimes I wake up and have this uncanny feeling that I am my mother…. apparently we looked the split image of each other when I was born. The older I get the more I seem to look like her….. Other times I get dead limbs…. you wake up and your body just isn’t living… your left arm or right arm, or whatever part of your anatomy has died a death. A sort of living nightmare of what it will be like scenario, scary, so in terror you slap that unresponsive limb until it submits. One slap just doesn’t do it so you really hammer at it until it gives in. Sigh…

Things hurt that shouldn’t

My knees creek. If I could oil them I would but sadly that isn’t an option. Oh and cramp, it strikes whenever it fancies. One evening I’d been grocery shopping. I backed my car into the drive and a vicious cramp struck with no warning. Thank goodness I wasn’t driving anywhere far. I jumped out of my car and did a little cramp jig, hopping about, hoping my neighbours wouldn’t spot me!

Your bladder has been secretively removed and replaced with a defective piece of crap made in China.

Yep, so true. I pee all the time, this is annoying especially when I am right in the middle of watching my favourite TV programme. I have to get up and pee. When I’m shopping I need to take a break at regular intervals to pee, etc. Then my daughter says: “You have to go again? You’ve just been mum.” Ah, the joys of youth, she just doesn’t have a clue what it is like to need the loo. Really need it. Sadly one day she will know….

Coffee = A Will to Live.

No. 4 on Brian’s list ain’t me! I’m still a youngster!!!

Okay that’s a bit of a joke but I can function without coffee in the morning… Nevertheless Brian’s words sum it up for so many: “For someone my age? The coffee stops me from taking your life when you ask an otherwise innocent question about how my day is going. Not kidding.”

Brian’s brilliant one-liner about coffee brought me back to a particular experience many years ago. My brother had travelled down from the rugged shores of Scotland, from the capital city Edinburgh, no less, to visit me in Cambridge. Everything went so well to begin with but ……the very next morning disaster struck. He greeted me looking a bit dishevelled and started riffling in my cupboards. His horrified expression suggested that he was getting more and more distressed. In a terrified howl he uttered the words he hoped he would never have to say: “Where is the ****ing coffee?” I can’t remember his exact words so I might be doing him a disservice here but an expletive or two might be in order to convey his sense of total utter outrage.

There was no coffee. Not a grain. Nada.

My heart sunk. I knew in that moment that the last grains had been mercilessly boiled, and drank the previous evening. What a terrible sister! As an avid morning tea drinker I had forgotten all about the coffee that my brother craved to kick start his day. His messy hair seemed to stand up in spikes of rising accusation. His face turned grey . He looked as if he wanted to take the word coffee and slice the ending off (coff…. ee,) to replace it with coffin. Mine. He began pacing to and fro, and then in one swift movement, he grabbed a cigarette, and made for the door. He tried to open this exit way barring his escape but it was locked. Oops. His turned back to me, eyes wild with fury. I rushed to get the key. I opened it. He slammed the door behind him. But if looks could kill I’d be dead. Past tense. Finito.

Shortly after he returned, caressing his precious coffee jar. He put the kettle on to boil. He poured that first exquisite cup, that elixir, he drank it, replenishing his soul.

He returned.

A human.

Thank heavens.

I had been spared!

But my stress levels had hit the roof! I needed a calming herbal tea to recover.

Hope you liked my one-liner Wednesday!

I’m sure Brian and many of you morning coffee drinkers will identify with the sheer horror of such a disastrous moment!

If you’d like to join in with this regular Wednesday blog event here’s the link to Linda’s blog:

http://lindaghill.com/2016/02/03/one-liner-wednesday-you-know-that-feeling/

This is also my post for Colleen at Silver Threading’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday and Ronovan Writes #BeWow: Be Wonderful Wednesday and Be Writing Wednesday: http://silverthreading.com/2016/01/27/writers-quote-wednesday-bewow-ian-mcewan/

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https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/bewow-blogshare/

This might seem like a strange #BeWow post but my point is this: if you can take an unfortunate experience and turn it into a lesson then I do believe it can be a wonderful thing to do. I have never forgotten this experience. It is now indelibly stored in my memory in large exclamation marks…. !!!!

We all learn from our mistakes! We all make them, nobody’s perfect. We’re all on the same path, some young, some a little older than others but we are all walking our way towards the twilight of our lives. So let’s support each other. Laugh at the ups and downs and whatever you do next time you have a family member visiting make sure you don’t neglect them like I did. Little things can make their visit wonderful. Whatever you do don’t forget to have a full jar of coffee, a glass of their favourite wine or whatever creature comforts they crave. These little treasures really can be a lifeline to make them feel at home.

Here are three wonderful quotes about the undisputed joys of coffee:

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“What do you want?”
“Just coffee. Black – like my soul.”
― Cassandra Clare, City of Bones

“Black as night, sweet as sin.”
― Neil Gaiman, Anansi Boys

What about you? Are you a morning coffee, or tea drinker? Do comment, I’d love to find out.

Bye for now. Off to make myself a coffee….. This is what I need in my cupboards just in case… and those cakes look scrumptious too!

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Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

Writer’s Quote Wednesday: Aging Disgracefully!!

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For Writer’s Quote Wednesday I want to highlight a book that I am currently reading, The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson to celebrate staying young at heart, and getting up to mischief for as long as humanely p0sssible!

Here’s the synopsis on Goodreads:

It all starts on the one-hundredth birthday of Allan Karlsson. Sitting quietly in his room in an old people’s home, he is waiting for the party he-never-wanted-anyway to begin. The Mayor is going to be there. The press is going to be there. But, as it turns out, Allan is not… Slowly but surely Allan climbs out of his bedroom window, into the flowerbed (in his slippers) and makes his getaway. And so begins his picaresque and unlikely journey involving criminals, several murders, a suitcase full of cash, and incompetent police. As his escapades unfold, we learn something of Allan’s earlier life in which – remarkably – he helped to make the atom bomb, became friends with American presidents, Russian tyrants, and Chinese leaders, and was a participant behind the scenes in many key events of the twentieth century. Already a huge bestseller across Europe, The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared is a fun and feel-good book for all ages.

The main protagonist is a one hundred year old man, a downright ridiculously sprightly scoundrel.

Here are a few quotes to tempt you to read this novel, unless you already have! Do comment below I’d love to hear your opinion..

“Allan looked at the bus and then at the suitcase, then again at the bus and then again at the suitcase. It has wheels, he said to himself. And there’s a strap to pull it by too. And then Allan surprised himself by making what – you have to admit – was decision to say ‘yes’ to life.”

“When life has gone into overtime it’s easy to take liberties.”

The humour just keeps on coming, and coming even when the main protagonist Allan considers death:

“Imagine that, death was just like being asleep. Would he have time to think before it was all over? And would he have time to think that he had thought it? But wait, how much do you have to think before you have finished thinking?”

So with the sentiments of this book in mind here’s a little quote I’ve written myself:

With each day we get a little older but our minds mock our creaking limbs by remaining youthful, that is the wicked truth of life, and there is no escaping it.

So, like the sea, my constant friend, drift with the tide of life, exalt in the highs and prepare for the lows, but remain in your heart forever young, a humorous scoundrel longing for your next adventure.

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To end my Writer’s Quote Wednesday I’m finishing off with these superb quotes that sum it up for me:

“At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since.”
― Salvador Dalí

“It takes a very long time to become young.”
― Pablo Picasso

Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.”
― Franz Kafka

If you’d like to take part in Colleen at Silver Threading’s wonderful link up for Writer’s Quote Wednesday, and Ronovan’s Bewow, (Be Wonderful Wednesday,) here’s the link:

http://silverthreading.com/2015/12/16/writers-quote-wednesday-bewow-a-month-of-hanukkah-christmas-and-kwanzaa-quotes-reverend-dr-martin-luther-king-jr/

Bye for now, hope you liked my quotes!!!

Oh and by the way I’m on Instagram now too and if you’d like to see my recent photos here’s the link: https://www.instagram.com/kyrosmagica/

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Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

Writers Quote Wednesday and #BeWow: Christmas Magic Thoughts

‘I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph.‘
Child star actress Shirley Temple.

How sad, poor Shirley, six seems very young to stop believing in Santa Claus, but perhaps this is the price of fame?

The magic of Christmas is what I love the most, the twinkling lights, the promise of what is to come,

the smell of a real tree, the aroma of a roasting turkey, and of course the colourful presents under the tree, what more could you ask for? Well perhaps a touch of good will, and even tempers would go down a treat at Christmas. But often tempers get frayed, and words are spoken that are regretted shortly after, that is the nature of Christmas, the excitement and anticipation, the quest for the perfect Christmas sometimes leads to arguments and strife so today on the 2nd day of December, for Colleen’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday and Ronovan’s BeWow, Be Wonderful Wednesday

I’d like to focus on the simple magic of Christmas. This magic is often lost, consumed by enormous presents, oversized turkeys, and shows of extreme extravagance so instead let’s consider what is in our hearts this December and share a bit of laughter, and hope that everyone will have a peaceful and harmonious Christmas.

So my #BeWow quote is this gem from Roy. L. Smith.

“He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.”
― Roy L. Smith

So with the joyful heart of Christmas in mind, let me leave you with a few amusing, cheeky Christmas quotes, which hopefully will get Santa to loudly proclaim Ho, Ho, HO!!!!

‘The one thing women don’t want to find in their stockings on Christmas morning is their husband.’
The late American comic Joan Rivers

‘I once bought my kids a set of batteries for Christmas with a note on it saying, toys not included.’
Comedian Bernard Manning (1930-2007)

‘The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live.’
George Carlin (1937-2008), American stand-up comedian.

What I don’t like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day.

– Phyllis Diller

There is a remarkable breakdown of taste and intelligence at Christmastime. Mature, responsible grown men wear neckties made of holly leaves and drink alcoholic beverages with raw egg yolks and cottage cheese in them.

– P.J. O’Rourke

Christmas, here again. Let us raise a loving cup: Peace on earth, goodwill to men, and make them do the washing up.

– Wendy Cope

If you’d like to join in Writer’s Quote Wednesday, and #BeWow here’s the link:

http://silverthreading.com/2015/12/02/writers-quote-wednesday-bewow-a-month-of-christmas-quotes-laura-ingalls-wilder/

https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/category/bewow-2/

I hope you liked the quotes.

Bye for now,

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

Ronovan Writes BeWoW, Haiku Challenge, and Writer’s Quote Wednesday

Ronovan Writes Weekly Haiku Poetry PromptChallenger #71: Cover and Colour: https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/2015/11/16/ronovanwrites-weekly-haiku-poetry-prompt-challenge-71-covercolor/

For this week’s Haiku Challenge Ronovan has suggested two words beginning with the letter C that kind of sound like each other….. the letter C sounds like Sea, so, let me tell you all about my long love affair with the sea!!

From a very young age I have always loved the sea, always will, there is something about the sea that makes me very contented and joyful, so this haiku is to celebrate the sea, in all its strength and vitality. Of course sometimes the sea has a dark side too and can be a destructive, violent force, claiming lives in great tragedies but it is also a source of great joy, perhaps that is why I love the sea so much, you never can begin to imagine what the sea is thinking, and you must always, always respect its power and majesty. So this haiku is my post for Ronovan’s #BeWoW, which sets out to: (“Be Writing on Wednesday to Be Wonderful on Wednesday and make the world a better place to visit.”) For this #BeWoW I’d like to celebrate the world around us, and the beauty that lives in the deep oceans of our world: https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/category/bewow-2/

Cover Seven Tenths of My Heart

Cover seven tenths of my heart

Colour me with all your floats

Don’t leave me drowning

Colourful splashes

Spread to golden sunset dreams,

Substance of delight

Cover me with love,

A colourful breath away,

Home in the oceans.

Ronovan’s helpful links:

https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/haiku-challenges-guidelines/

https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/2014/07/03/how-to-write-a-haiku-poem/

For Colleen’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday: http://silverthreading.com/2015/11/18/writers-quote-wednesday-bewow-paulo-coelho-magical-places/

I’d like to shout out about this fabulous quote about the sea:

(The above photo was taken in Portugal, on a family holiday.)

“There was a magic about the sea. People were drawn to it. People wanted to love by it, swim in it, play in it, look at it. It was a living thing that was as unpredictable as a great stage actor: it could be calm and welcoming, opening its arms to embrace it’s audience one moment, but then could explode with its stormy tempers, flinging people around, wanting them out, attacking coastlines, breaking down islands. It had a playful side too, as it enjoyed the crowd, tossed the children about, knocked lilos over, tipped over windsurfers, occasionally gave sailors helping hands; all done with a secret little chuckle”
― Cecelia Ahern, The Gift

Cecelia Ahern was born on September 30, 1981 in Dublin, Ireland. She is the daughter of the former Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. On 14th December 2009 it was announced that Cecelia had given birth to her first child with partner David Keoghan, a girl named Robin. She was secretly married on 11 June 2010 in County Kildare, Ireland. Her older sister, Georgina Ahern is married to Nicky Byrne of Irish pop group Westlife. Cecelia was a member of the Irish pop group Shimma who finished third in the Irish national for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2000. She attended Griffith College Dublin and obtained a degree in Journalism and Media Communications.

Cecelia Ahern wrote her first novel, PS. I Love You when she was twenty-one. It was published in 2004, the number 1 bestseller in Ireland for 19 weeks and sold in over forty countries. The book was adapted as a motion picture directed by Richard LaGravenese and starring Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler and released in 2007 in the United States.

Her second book, Where Rainbows End (US title: Love, Rosie or Rosie Dunne) won the German CORINE Award in 2005. She contributed with short stories to charity books and is also the co-creator and producer of the ABC comedy Samantha Who?.

Her other works include If You Could See Me Now (US title: A Silver Lining), A Place Called Here (US title: There’s No Place Like Here) Thanks for the Memories (US title: Desire Lines) The Gift The Book of Tomorrow.

Hope you enjoyed my post, celebrating the sea in all its wonder, bye for now,

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

3 Days 3 Quotes Challenge, Writer’s Quote Wednesday and BeWoW

I have been tagged by Janice who blogs at On the land to participate in the ‘3 Days, 3 Quotes Challenge’. Many thanks to Janice for inviting me to participate in this fun challenge. Janice blogs about our world and how important it is to care and nourish it: Caring About Our World; Reflecting About Life. She hopes to encourage us to move towards a cleaner, more sustainable future and away from the worst consequences of climate change.

Here’s a link to her blog, do pop over and support this wonderful world we live in by visiting her blog: https://ontheland.wordpress.com/

The rules for the 3 Days, 3 Quotes Challenge:

1. Thank the blogger, who nominated you.

2. Share one new quote on three consecutive days on your blog. They can be from anywhere, anyone, or anything that inspires you… Which means, it can be from yourself, too!

3. On each of the three days, nominate 3 more bloggers to carry on this mission impossible endeavor (if they dare!).

I’ve decided to join in three activities in one blog post this Wednesday:

Janice’s 3 day 3 quote challenge: https://ontheland.wordpress.com/2015/10/14/3-days-3-quotes-challenge-thich-nhat-hanh-love-letter-to-the-earth-bewow-writers-quote-wednesday/

Colleen’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday. An open invitation to join in some quote sharing fun: http://silverthreading.com/2015/10/21/writers-quote-wednesday-the-winds-of-change-rumi/

Ronovan’s BeWoW, in which he suggests we consider what brings cheer to our lives, his prompt is ” A Cheer Full Life, ” and he quotes Thomas Carlyle, so do take a look at his blog and see this wonderfully inspiring quote. What cheers me up is staying as young at heart for as long as possible, so that’s my BeWoW suggestion, whatever you do don’t turn into a grumpy old misery guts! Resist it! Do whatever it takes to keep yourself fit, happy and healthy. Be Wonderful This Wednesday, and Thursday, and Friday, keep it up for as long as you can! https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/2015/10/20/bewow-writers-quote-wednesday-is-tomorrow/

so with all these challenges I had to come up with something new so what better way than to have a go at writing my own quote? So with autumn in mind I came up with us, words only:

I am in the autumn of my life, winter is still to come. In my final season I will resist approaching age. The shell of my body will crumple, but I will continue to live with a full heart. Wrinkles will be a snapshot of life’s colourful memories forever imprinted in the crisp reds, yellows and golds of the leaves of time.

Marje @ Kyrosmagica.

My autumnal quote on the theme of getting older has been inspired by the following Mark Twain quote:

“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”

What a gem!

Mark Twain’s quote sums up how I feel. We should try to respond to the aging process by fighting against getting older, embracing each day with a happy heart and don’t spend too much time worrying, just be thankful that you are living, loving, and breathing in the beauty of each new day in this wonderful world that we live in. Not everyone is as fortunate, so enjoy those birthdays, even if they seem to be coming faster than they used to !! One day I hope to be one of those grannies who still thinks that everyone fancies her, who stands up on the swings, and lives life to the full. Yes I’m going to be an embarrassingly cheerful, unstoppable Grannie!!!

I hope so anyway…… Just like my mother in law, she’s always been full of life and I do admire that about her. She’s 89, and still going strong. Oh, and my Great Grandfather was still walking miles at the ripe old age of 90, and flirting with the ladies, and my dad is still pretty fit and he is in his eighties! So I’m modelling my future on these inspiring elderly characters. I have plans to be a glamorous Grannie! Just not anytime soon….

My nominees to take part in the 3 day 3 quote Challenge, if they would like to are:

http://dreambigdreamoften.co/

http://michelleclementsjames.com/

http://crazychinesefamily.com/

I hope you liked my quotes. Please do feel free to comment.

Bye for now,

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

Writer’s Quote Wednesday: Halloween

This week for Colleen’s Writer’s quote Wednesday I am celebrating Halloween quotes. Colleen is doing a flit, not by witch’s broom, I hasten to add, she’s packing up and going house hunting in Colorado. So here’s hoping all goes well for her and that her move is a big success. So let’s cast a spell for a successful trip. In the meantime, Ronovan, from his blog Ronovan Writes, and Mel, from her blog, Melissa Barker-Simpson are going to post occasionally for her while she is away. More details about that here: http://silverthreading.com/2015/10/03/inside-silvers-brain-the-great-move/

Here’s the link to her open invitation to join Writer’s Quote Wednesday: http://silverthreading.com/2015/10/07/writers-quote-wednesday-audrey-hepburn/

‘Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world.
~William Shakespeare

“Tis the night—the night
Of the grave’s delight,
And the warlocks are at their play;
Ye think that without,
The wild winds shout,
But no, it is they—it is they!”
― Arthur Cleveland Coxe, Halloween: A Romaunt

Nobody moved.

Everybody sat in the dark cellar, suspended in the suddenly frozen task of this October game; the wind blew outside, banging the house, the smell of pumpkins and apples filled the room with smell of the objects in their fingers while one boy cried, “I’ll go upstairs and look!” and he ran upstairs hopefully and out around the house, four times around the house, calling, “Marion, Marion, Marion!” over and over and at last coming slowly down the stairs into the waiting breathing cellar and saying to the darkness, “I can’t find her.”

Then… some idiot turned on the lights.
(“The October Game”)”
― Ray Bradbury, Long After Midnight

Hold on, man. We don’t go anywhere with “scary,” “spooky,” “haunted,” or “forbidden” in the title.

~From Scooby-Doo.

Where there is no imagination there is no horror.

-Arthur Conan Doyle,Sr.

Everyone is a moon and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.

– Mark Twain
In Girl World, Halloween is the one day a year when a girl can dress up like a total slut and no other girls can say anything else about it.

-from “Mean Girls”

When witches go riding,
and black cats are seen,
the moon laughs and whispers,
‘tis near Halloween.
~Author Unknown

From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!
~Scottish Saying

Shadows of a thousand years rise again unseen,
Voices whisper in the trees, “Tonight is Halloween!”
~Dexter Kozen

Being in a band you can wear whatever you want — it’s like an excuse for Halloween everyday.

~Gwen Stefani

Links:

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/halloween

http://www.quotegarden.com/halloween.html

http://www.e-junkie.info/2011/10/collection-of-funny-spooky-halloween.html#sthash.SpiEbduU.dpuf

Hope you liked my Halloween quotes. Have you any favourite Halloween quotes too?

Bye for now,

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

Writer’s Quote Wednesday and BeWow: Climb those Towers!

This week my Writer’s Quote Wednesday post has been inspired by my visit to Portsmouth, on Saturday evening. Here’s the link to Colleen’s Blog if you want to join in with her weekly quote share: http://silverthreading.com/2015/09/23/writers-quote-wednesday-lewis-carroll/

I was attending my husband’s work party at the Spinnaker Tower on Portsmouth harbour. In fact I found it so wonderful that this week I’m also joining in with Ron’s Be Wonderful Wednesday #BeWowBlogShare: https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/bewow-blogshare/

The Spinnaker is an amazing venue to have a party, the views are absolutely fabulous. On the way up there were some tears in the lift, one of the party goers became overwhelmed with nerves, but needless to say later in the evening after a few calming glasses of wine she seemed just fine. I also suffer somewhat with a fear of heights so I know what that’s like. Anyway thank goodness we were enclosed in and not hanging off the side, or abseiling down! That’s a party trick I wouldn’t care to participate in. Later in the evening several of the party goers danced or walked across the Sky Walk, a large glass floor, which is 100 metres above sea level. One person even did a head stand on it, but I think that was the alcohol speaking. Needless to say no one was allowed to walk, skip, or tap dance across it wearing high heeled stilettos!

So my quote from P.G. Wodehouse and #bewow is inspired by the heights that writers have to travel to be:

Recognised.
Successful.

Success comes to a writer as a rule, so gradually that it is always something of a shock to him to look back and realise the heights to which he has climbed. P. G. Wodehouse.

After being in that lift it certainly makes you realise how fast you can travel up, wouldn’t P. G. Wodehouse be amazed!

Here’s the view to give you an indication of what we are aiming for:

So my #BeWow statement would kind of go like this: Be all you can be, reach for the highest stars, let them twinkle in a blaze of glory, always remember to follow your dreams even if the path seems long and arduous, and maybe one day you might just wake up and realise you are living the dream that you have carried in your heart for a very long time.

Goodreads – About P G Wodehouse:

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE, was a comic writer who enjoyed enormous popular success during a career of more than seventy years and continues to be widely read over 40 years after his death. Despite the political and social upheavals that occurred during his life, much of which was spent in France and the United States, Wodehouse’s main canvas remained that of prewar English upper-class society, reflecting his birth, education, and youthful writing career.

An acknowledged master of English prose, Wodehouse has been admired both by contemporaries such as Hilaire Belloc, Evelyn Waugh and Rudyard Kipling and by modern writers such as Douglas Adams, Salman Rushdie and Terry Pratchett. Sean O’Casey famously called him “English literature’s performing flea”, a description that Wodehouse used as the title of a collection of his letters to a friend, Bill Townend.

Best known today for the Jeeves and Blandings Castle novels and short stories, Wodehouse was also a talented playwright and lyricist who was part author and writer of fifteen plays and of 250 lyrics for some thirty musical comedies. He worked with Cole Porter on the musical Anything Goes (1934) and frequently collaborated with Jerome Kern and Guy Bolton. He wrote the lyrics for the hit song “Bill” in Kern’s Show Boat (1927), wrote the lyrics for the Gershwin – Romberg musical Rosalie (1928), and collaborated with Rudolf Friml on a musical version of The Three Musketeers (1928).

Links:

http://www.spinnakertower.co.uk/

Hope you liked my Writer’s Quote Wednesday, and #BeWow. Just in case you suffer from vertigo, I’ll do my best to come to your rescue!! Only kidding I’ll need rescuing too, but it’s good to dream.

Kyrosmagica to the Rescue. Bye for now.

Marje@ Kyrosmagica xx

Writer’s Quote Wednesday: Michael Morpurgo.

This week I’m thrilled to be joining in Colleen’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday.

Here’s the link to find out how to join in this open community of quote enthusiasts: http://silverthreading.com/2015/09/16/writers-quote-wednesday-george-carlin/

My contribution for Colleen’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday is this gem of pure wonderment from Michael Morpurgo.

Encouraging young people to believe in themselves and find their own voice, whether it is through drama, writing or art is so important in giving young people a sense of self-worth. Michael Morpurgo.

I absolutely believe this is true, and the photograph below, (which I’ve edited with Michael Morpugo’s quote,) is taken from my youngest daughter’s art work when she was still at primary school.

It is nice to keep a copy of these little artistic endeavours on my blog as they bring back memories of when the girls were little, that seems such a long time ago now! Both of my daughters are pretty arty, my eldest enjoys writing, art, and drama, and my youngest writing, dance and photography (which I would include too in the quote!) Being creative seems to run in our family! In fact my grandfather and my uncle had a photography business in Edinburgh.

Here’s a trio of Georgina’s artwork from primary school, the one on the left and right remind me of batik, The middle one is very colourful and exotic too! Batik is a technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to whole cloth, or cloth made using this technique. It is found in various countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Sri Lanka, Philippines and Nigeria. More about Batik on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batik

The photo below is one of my eldest daughter’s artwork pieces that she did when she was studying GCSE Art.

Author’s Bio – Goodreads

Michael Morpurgo is the author of many books for children, five of which have been made into films. He also writes his own screenplays and libretti for opera. Born in St Albans, Hertfordshire, in 1943, he was evacuated to Cumberland during the last years of the war, then returned to London, moving later to Essex. After a brief and unsuccessful spell in the army, he took up teaching and started to write. He left teaching after ten years in order to set up ‘Farms for City Children’ with his wife. They have three farms in Devon, Wales and Gloucestershire, open to inner city school children who come to stay and work with the animals. In 1999 this work was publicly recognised when he and his wife were awarded an MBE for services to youth. He is also a father and grandfather, so children have always played a large part in his life. Every year he and his family spend time in the Scilly Isles, the setting for three of his books.

http://www.michaelmorpurgo.com

I hope you like the quote from Michael Morpurgo that I have featured for Writer’s Quote Wednesday this week, and the magical artwork too!

If you are artistic or creative and would like to be featured on this blog, I will be posting artistic, photographic, writing, poetry, creative, and dramatic pieces, (written accounts for the drama please!) by youngsters in the age group 11-18. So do get in touch if you are interested in featuring, leave a comment below.

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

Writer’s Quote Wednesday: Edinburgh First UNESCO City of Literature

I’m a bit late for Writer’s Quote Wednesday this week as I’ve been away in Edinburgh and trying to catch up on everything now that I’m home, but I suppose it’s better to be late than never!

Anyway if you’d like to participate in this wonderful community of quote enthusiasts here’s the link:

h ttp://silverthreading.com/2015/08/26/writers-quote-wednesday-pure-inspiration/

My quotes this week are inspired by my trip to Edinburgh, and in particular to the Edinburgh Book Festival.

There are many more wonderful quotes about Edinburgh, the world’s first UNESCO city of Literature. www.cityofliterature.com

Here are some more of my favourites:

“Stepping into Charlotte Square was like stepping onto the pages of a fantastic new story.”

“City of the mind. A writer’s city.” Ian Rankin.

“It’s impossible to live in Edinburgh without sensing its literary heritage.” J K Rowling.

‘Edinburgh is my favourite city.” Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate.

“This is a city of shifting light, of changing skies, of sudden vistas. A city so beautiful it breaks the heart again and again.”
― Alexander McCall Smith

“Edinburgh is alive with words.”
― Sara Sheridan

“Edinburgh is a comfortable puddle for a novelist.”
― Sara Sheridan

“From this height the sleeping city seems like a child’s construction, a model which has refused to be constrained by imagination. The volcanic plug might be black Plasticine, the castle balanced solidly atop it a skewed rendition of crenellated building bricks. The orange street lamps are crumpled toffee-wrappers glued to lollipop sticks.”
― Ian Rankin

Edinburgh is a great big black bastard of a city where there are ghosts of all kinds.”
― Sara Sheridan, Ma Polinski’s Pockets

“The drinking dens are spilling out
There’s staggering in the square
There’s lads and lasses falling about
And a crackling in the air
Down around the dungeon doors
The shelters and the queues
Everybody’s looking for
Somebody’s arms to fall into
And it’s what it is
It’s what it is now

There’s frost on the graves and the monuments
But the taverns are warm in town
People curse the government
And shovel hot food down
The lights are out in the city hall
The castle and the keep
The moon shines down upon it all
The legless and asleep

And it’s cold on the tollgate
With the wagons creeping through
Cold on the tollgate
God knows what I could do with you
And it’s what it is
It’s what it is now

The garrison sleeps in the citadel
With the ghosts and the ancient stones
High up on the parapet
A Scottish piper stands alone
And high on the wind
The highland drums begin to roll
And something from the past just comes
And stares into my soul

And it’s cold on the tollgate
With the Caledonian Blues
Cold on the tollgate
God knows what I could do with you
And it’s what it is
It’s what it is now
What it is
It’s what it is now

There’s a chink of light, there’s a burning wick
There’s a lantern in the tower
Wee Willie Winkie with a candlestick
Still writing songs in the wee wee hours
On Charlotte Street I take
A walking stick from my hotel
The ghost of Dirty Dick
Is still in search of Little Nell
And it’s what it is
It’s what it is now
Oh what it is
What it is now”
― Mark Knopfler, Sailing to Philadelphia

You can see I’m missing Edinburgh already! My old home town! Still it’s always nice to be home, especially as I know that I can go back to Edinburgh again.

There are so many Literary activities you can take part in here are some links that I’d like to share with you:

Edinburgh Book Festival, Charlotte Square: www.edbookfest.co.uk

Scottish Story Telling Centre: www.scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk

Edinburgh Literary Pub Tour: www.edinburghliterarypubtour.co.uk

Edinburgh Writers’ Museum: www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk

Edinburgh World Heritage Trinity Apse Storytelling Garden: www.ewht.org.uk

The Edinburgh Book Lovers’ Tour www.edinburghbooktour.com

Edinburgh Book Sculptures via : www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk

Hope you enjoyed my thoughts on Edinburgh for Writer’s Quote Wednesday.

Bye for now…

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

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Encouraging young people to believe in themselves and find their own voice, whether it is through drama, writing or art is so important in giving young people a sense of self-worth. Michael Morpurgo.

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