Zebra-like #atozchallenge

We’re here. All l could feel was celebrating. The sketch came first this time, now I have to write a post to fit it.

I don’t care what the show don’t tell is, I’ve sketched my Z and uploaded it so here’s to all of us who’ve completed this year’s AtoZ regardless of any challenges life threw at us along the way.. Mine included sickness and a job change. Let’s have a party!! I’ll provide the zebra-like patterned bunting..

What are zebra’s like? Powerful, chunky, black and white striped, beautiful, bizarrely well camouflaged until they aren’t. Many things one could link to the blogging from AtoZ challenge now I come to think of it.

Show don’t tell

He was zebra-like.

vs

She made some zebra striped bunting and put it up for his party. One of her friends blurted out the likeness “Bold, black and white and chunky just like Geoff.” He hid his reaction but she never heard from him or saw him again, it was as if he’d disappeared into the patterns of everyday living.

Thanks to everyone who’s been here with me along the way and congrats to all who blogged their way through 2014’s AtoZ’s.  Now we party!!

Lynne’s AtoZ blogging challenge theme in case you couldn’t tell:

Linked to thoughts of emotions and behaviours, my theme is ‘I feel….’. Writers among you will be familiar with the phrase show don’t tell, for others it’s what every novelist tries to do. Authors want to show you the emotion and behaviour without telling you it. Trying to practice showing not telling, I have included an example in each post. I may have got it right, I may not have. Please let me know.

Here’s who else is doing the AtoZblogging challenge.

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Yes #atozchallenge

I feel.. yes

I behave.. yes

Yes may not be a behaviour or a feeling but when I say it hormonal changes occur and pathways in my brain are made which generate happy feelings and behaviours.

Show don’t tell.

She’ll say yes.

vs

He handed over a months salary to buy the ring sitting on the counter.

Lynne’s AtoZ blogging challenge theme in case you couldn’t tell:

Linked to thoughts of emotions and behaviours, my theme is ‘I feel….’. Writers among you will be familiar with the phrase show don’t tell, for others it’s what every novelist tries to do. Authors want to show you the emotion and behaviour without telling you it. Trying to practice showing not telling, I have included an example in each post. I may have got it right, I may not have. Please let me know.

Here’s who else is doing the AtoZblogging challenge.

Xenion #atozchallenge

Your husband left you, and said you were always moaning

And now, my dear, I’ll go too, before you send me foaming

 

What hopes we had for this millennium

But now we’re growing by the zillion

 

You stand there in your Xanthus reddish-yellow robe

Not knowing you’re such a xenophobe

Show don’t tell.

He was such a know-it-all.

vs

He said “These days, who’s ever heard of a xenion. To most, it may as well be an onion.”

When I started this post I thought Xenion meant a two lined epigram. I had to look up epigram! An epigram is a short witty pithy verse. When I looked up xenion I found it’s greek for a gift to a guest. Presumably two-lined epigrams were given as gifts so I hope you liked your xenion as you were my guest here today.

Who knows, who cares, I had fun writing these whatever xenion means. .

Lynne’s AtoZ blogging challenge theme in case you couldn’t tell:

Linked to thoughts of emotions and behaviours, my theme is ‘I feel….’. Writers among you will be familiar with the phrase show don’t tell, for others it’s what every novelist tries to do. Authors want to show you the emotion and behaviour without telling you it. Trying to practice showing not telling, I have included an example in each post. I may have got it right, I may not have. Please let me know.

Here’s who else is doing the AtoZblogging challenge.

Watercoloured Westminster #atozchallenge

Technically I don’t think my sketches are watercolours. They’re probably called something like ink and wash or something. I pencil sketch then cover with watercolour then finish with a pen outlining a few main lines. You’ve called them drawings and illustrations. I’ve called at least one of them a caricature.

Ok, my AtoZ theme might be being stretched to it’s limit in this post but isn’t that what parliament is all about?

I struggled with my initial watercolour. Then something wonderful happened. I had a meeting in London near Westminster so I took my camera and took a photo as I emerged from the tube station. I love that area of Westminster and knew I’d be able to adapt my show don’t tell to fit. I love that when you’re close to Big Ben it’s just a wall, very beautiful but just a wall, until you strain your head and look up.

When I pass Westminster I take a few moments out to look at something that I’ve not focussed on before. Each time I find something different, something that makes me ponder and helps move my mind into a more calmer place. I love that in one small part of the world there’s so many different people at any one moment with so many different backgrounds and there for many different reasons. Last week, this person walked out of the tube, took a picture and looked forward to when she had time at home to sketch Westminster in watercolours. Here’s what I produced.

Show don’t tell.

Shirley felt watercoloured in Westminster.

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Wearing her more subtle colours, Shirley toned in with the others in the room. She blended well with everyone she met while she moved fluidly from person to person. Later, putting on her bright coat and scarf she blended in with the tourists outside when someone asked her to take their photograph.

Doing the sketches/drawings/illustrations has been made easier by having a show don’t tell section which gave me more to work with, I hope you’ve enjoyed them. They’ve been a challenge in their own right but I’ve enjoyed it and am sad we’re heading into the last few days.

Lynne’s AtoZ blogging challenge theme in case you couldn’t tell:

Linked to thoughts of emotions and behaviours, my theme is ‘I feel….’. Writers among you will be familiar with the phrase show don’t tell, for others it’s what every novelist tries to do. Authors want to show you the emotion and behaviour without telling you it. Trying to practice showing not telling, I have included an example in each post. I may have got it right, I may not have. Please let me know.

Here’s who else is doing the AtoZblogging challenge.

Very… #atozchallenge

I’m tempted to be very annoying and keep this post very short.. Very happy with the rest of my AtoZ’s, do I need to write a very long v post?

I’ll leave it at very… and you can add any behaviour, feeling or description to that. Vocal, valuable and vivacious were the ones that came to mind for me.

Show don’t tell.

He was very…

vs

The books in his living room were arranged alphabetically, as were the cd’s.

Lynne’s AtoZ blogging challenge theme in case you couldn’t tell:

Linked to thoughts of emotions and behaviours, my theme is ‘I feel….’. Writers among you will be familiar with the phrase show don’t tell, for others it’s what every novelist tries to do. Authors want to show you the emotion and behaviour without telling you it. Trying to practice showing not telling, I have included an example in each post. I may have got it right, I may not have. Please let me know.

Here’s who else is doing the AtoZblogging challenge.

Unconventionally used #atozchallenge

All my initial U’s began with un. I didn’t want to use any of those and settled on Used. I’ve used all my energy to get this far.. I feel used up having used all my creative strength to keep sketching. Actually, I gain tons of energy while blogging and sketching give me more than takes away from my soul.

There are many writers but the world has grown. There are a lot of people.. and a fraction of them write. It’s much easier with computers and word processing packages. Mind you I seem to still prefer to print out a hard copy – similar to typing it and editing them making the changes. At least I don’t have to retype it all out each time. If I did I think I’d be better planned and prepared before I did the first draft.

I think all writers are unconventional.. there’s whole worlds and lives living in our heads. If we’re all unconventional does that make us all conventional?

Show don’t tell.

They unconventionally used her.

vs

The police didn’t know what to do. She had offered to help before but it wasn’t their normal practice. This time they decided to let her plant out the bedding in front of the station so those they interviewed had a more pleasant view as they entered and they were shocked with the results.

I’ve drafted a novel with a character who loves to garden, she has a friend who’s a policeman. It popped into my mind when I was trying to work out what the show don’t tell and sketch would be for this and any excuse to draw plants! I’ve no idea if surroundings effect interviews under caution or not but most of us are affected by the colours we can see and nature.

Lynne’s AtoZ blogging challenge theme in case you couldn’t tell:

Linked to thoughts of emotions and behaviours, my theme is ‘I feel….’. Writers among you will be familiar with the phrase show don’t tell, for others it’s what every novelist tries to do. Authors want to show you the emotion and behaviour without telling you it. Trying to practice showing not telling, I have included an example in each post. I may have got it right, I may not have. Please let me know.

Here’s who else is doing the AtoZblogging challenge.

Tenaciously tweetful #atozchallenge

I think my novels need a soundtrack of wildlife. My life has a soundtrack of wildlife. Mainly birds. I spend way too much time on twitter @LynneInPborough and am happy to chat there, mainly early in the morning, while I have my back door open and listen to the tweeting going on in my garden while participating in the online tweeting.

Before this challenge began I could be found tweeting #atozchallenge and, no doubt, will continue to do that. I don’t talk to as many people as I used to since I started writing and living more inwardly but I do chat a lot online.

Show don’t tell.

The birds were tenaciously tweetful.

vs

Each morning the first thing she did before putting the kettle on was to open the back door to hear the birds singing loudly as they, too, woke for the day. The minute she opened the door the blackbird and robin increased the sound of their singing, reminding her that they were waiting for their bird table to be filled up for another day. Once the message was out that she was awake the Starlings soon joined in.

Lynne’s AtoZ blogging challenge theme in case you couldn’t tell:

Linked to thoughts of emotions and behaviours, my theme is ‘I feel….’. Writers among you will be familiar with the phrase show don’t tell, for others it’s what every novelist tries to do. Authors want to show you the emotion and behaviour without telling you it. Trying to practice showing not telling, I have included an example in each post. I may have got it right, I may not have. Please let me know.

Here’s who else is doing the AtoZblogging challenge.

Spicy, single and struggling #atozchallenge

When I discussed this theme with a friend and came up with ‘I feel’ they immediately thought I should change it to we feel as apparently I am always thinking of others and as e showed I see things from others point of view. As I started writing these posts I’ve realised my blog is very purposefully for me and about me so I’m standing up for myself and celebrating my singledom.

I used to think people who lived on their own were sad and lonely. There were times I couldn’t bare to be alone with me. Those days are, thankfully, long gone and now I love spending time on my own. Rather too much maybe.

Whilst I struggle with the labels I and others give me we’ve all be struggling with some letters in this challenge. Many of the struggling letters come at the end of the alphabet which means we’ve got to know each other a bit by now I hope and we will be anxiously awaiting to see how our blogging friends have tackled the U’s, X’s, Y’s and Z’s. I think I might be searching for lots of things while tackling this challenge.

What does my sketch for today have to do with my show don’t tell?  Nothing much, I was struggling for a sketch and I fell into the comfort of my shadow. The tulips in my garden were begging me to sketch their shadows so I did.

Show don’t tell.

She was spicy, single and struggling.

vs

Her hair smelled of cinnamon, he noticed the worn clothes she had on which had been freshly washed and ironed and still found her very attractive as they came to the end of their five minutes during this weeks speed dating.

Lynne’s AtoZ blogging challenge theme in case you couldn’t tell:

Linked to thoughts of emotions and behaviours, my theme is ‘I feel….’. Writers among you will be familiar with the phrase show don’t tell, for others it’s what every novelist tries to do. Authors want to show you the emotion and behaviour without telling you it. Trying to practice showing not telling, I have included an example in each post. I may have got it right, I may not have. Please let me know.

Here’s who else is doing the AtoZblogging challenge.

Restlessly Realistic #atozchallenge

Hmm this could be very different if reversed. Realistically restless or restlessly realistic. I think I’m more the latter than the first. I’m going through a period in my life when I’m restless for many things I’ve put off or haven’t had the energy for over the recent months.

Each winter I’m restless for spring. Each spring I’m realistic about my gardening skills.. yet restless for the seedlings to grow. Hey, this might be turning into an illustration of my gardening skills.

Show don’t tell.

They were restlessly realistic about their gardening skills.

vs

The compost, seeds and seed trays had been waiting on the table all winter.  They both were counting the days till Feburary and the first seeds would be planted.

Lynne’s AtoZ blogging challenge theme in case you couldn’t tell:

Linked to thoughts of emotions and behaviours, my theme is ‘I feel….’. Writers among you will be familiar with the phrase show don’t tell, for others it’s what every novelist tries to do. Authors want to show you the emotion and behaviour without telling you it. Trying to practice showing not telling, I have included an example in each post. I may have got it right, I may not have. Please let me know.

Here’s who else is doing the AtoZblogging challenge.

Quite #atozchallenge

As I’ve commented on comments I’ve used the word quite and it got me thinking. There are many times when we wait for others to ‘get it’ whatever it is and when they do we might reply ‘quite’. It’s a way of recognising the moment we understand something. I’m not sure I’m quite going to be able to explain what I mean so I might change my q again.. (this is the third attempt.. quite!).

The more I look at this word it’s starting to change it’s meaning and look. You know, those words that as you stare at them they start looking quite odd and you question if you have spelt it correct.

Hmm.. no idea what illustration my show don’t tell example’s giving me.. Ooh maybe another caricature!

Show don’t tell.

He said ‘Quite’.

vs

After things turning out exactly as he’d predicted she looked at him and with his mouth pursed he raised his eyebrows and sighed.  She knew exactly what he meant.

Lynne’s AtoZ blogging challenge theme in case you couldn’t tell:

Linked to thoughts of emotions and behaviours, my theme is ‘I feel….’. Writers among you will be familiar with the phrase show don’t tell, for others it’s what every novelist tries to do. Authors want to show you the emotion and behaviour without telling you it. Trying to practice showing not telling, I have included an example in each post. I may have got it right, I may not have. Please let me know.

Here’s who else is doing the AtoZblogging challenge.