|
Nov 30
HI đ
Woohoo! The last day of November!! Itâs finally vamoosing for another year đ
Youngest is also 4 years and 8 months old todayâŠa tad close to school age for my liking. Why canât I wish time away for the things I detest, but at the same time savour the things I loveâŠ?!  *contemplates app ideas*
I was hit by some inspiration, I think I have a slight inkling where this story may go. Another character has appeared, and is conversing with Marylin; while being a bit rude. Always a good signâŠ
From yesterday, I liked:
Healthy plants did not festoon Marylinâs windowsills, no roses peeped in at her doors.
The family cat preferred to dine at the neighboursâ and the coffee mornings she hosted never seemed to get past the stilted stage.
One never knew how much was enoughâŠwhen oneâs spotlight was truly at rest.
Or when a critical review might ruin oneâs whole week.
So I launched into todayâs writing slot with:
âHow far are you hoping to run with olâ Shakespeare, then? Heâs ancient, you know â he hasnât got much mileage leftâ
âWhatâŠ?â
âYour musings. Youâre depressing meâ
Marylin shifted in her seat, a little embarrassed that sheâd actually articulated her thoughts. What would Suzy know about the trials of motherhood â in her kitten heels, on a freaking Tuesday?
Plus, Marylin had made a choice, hadnât she? Better to suck it up and lie. That was what they expected, anyway, these non-kid-infested people.
Itâs what Marylin had expectedâŠ
- Donât gush unless I let you.
- Donât show more than 3 pictures per outing.
- Donât complain unless I do. (Oh, and you plan to go straight back to work. Like, in 3 days or something. Because thatâs being a proper member of society, who contributes)
- Donât make me feel like my taxes are paying for you to live.
- Donât even suggest that your husband might be able to pay for your upkeep for more than a day or two. (Cos that makes you lucky and different and therefore cancels out your RIGHT to complain ever.)
- Donât wear frumpy clothes.
- Donât make out you are more tired than meâŠ
Because then weâll get in a big competition mode where Iâll make you feel incensed (without permission to vent here because I wonât understand anywayâŠ)
(220 words)
See? That flowed better, as shown in the word count for the 20 minute stretch.Â
The well is sending me up a bucket or twoâŠ
[Pic is from here]
Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter
Copyright © 2017  Montaffera All Rights Reserved
Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!
Nov 29
Hey there đ
How are we at Wednesday already?! Wrote this pretty late tonight as Youngest has been off all day with more rashy type stuff, and Hubby has been at workâŠso Iâve done less walking than a full school/nursery run, but more than I have since Friday (and pushing a grumpy 4.5 year old in a buggy the whole time) because the kids were off ill on Monday, too! Gotta love the winter viruses: you just think theyâre better and some other random symptom pops upâŠ
I think my subconscious has been whipping up wisps, rather than going at this weekâs story in a linear fashion, so I reckon a lot of what I have written since Monday will be scrapped, or at the very least rehashed into the story I finish with. I like the character name I have (which Hubby gave me when I was struggling in the last few seconds of Mondayâs scribblefest!) but I have lots of swirly ideas and plots in my skullâŠ
I am trying to trust the process, itâs all part of growing into the writer I was born to be. She doesnât like rules very much, it would seem đ
Marylin often thought back to how her mother scolded her, realising now the fears the older woman was trying to supress. Hearing in the echoes of motherly admonishment the harsh truths that were being battled against, Marylin felt ashamed of her flippant remarks, or (worse) outright defiance. She could not remember her mother having many friends that stopped by, and certainly none she could definitely rely on, to leave her precious charge with. 
Maternity was bound up in fragrant sheets, gingham aprons and well-scrubbed pans of comforting food, in Marylinâs mind. It was an ideal she aspired to, but was always struggling to attain. There was never the right odour to her bedclothes, and her kitchen did not shimmer in the morning sun. Healthy plants did not festoon Marylinâs windows, no roses peeped in at her doors.
The family cat preferred to dine at the neighboursâ and the coffee mornings she hosted never seemed to get past the stilted stage. One never knew how much was enough, when oneâs spotlight was truly at rest.Â
Or when a critical review might ruin oneâs whole weekâŠ
(184 words)
[Pic is from here]
Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter
Copyright © 2017  Montaffera All Rights Reserved
Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!
Nov 28
Hello đ
Hubby took Youngest on the nursery woodwalk today, and I wandered home – after waving Eldest into his classroom and being let into the nursery quickly, even though the bell had rung, so I could hug Youngest goodbye a second time đ
The sun was out, cheering yet blinding at its late November height. I was thinking of my story, and about who would be most prone to scary visions or nightmares. Write what you know came into my head.
I do think in disastrous newspaper headlines a lot.
I got home, and folded clothes watching a Miss Marple episode on YouTube that had the fierce protective streak of mothers as one of the central themes. Later, when eating lunch with Hubby, these statistics about the mental health of women after having children were featured on the news.
The universe had spokenâŠ
From the other side, motherhood was more frightening than any dream. One grew cloven feet just trying to sort out laundry; familiar landscapes could all at once become claustrophobic and fraught with danger.
Sometimes there was no safehouse, others everything seemed so perfect one entertained the nagging feeling a door would burst open and the grim reaper himself appear; to cut down all those one cared about with abandon.
But one survivor, alone to bear the sole responsibility of remorse and memory â a bereft mother sifting through happy faces in a merry-go-round of pain, trying to see which sign she missed. Confirm that their fate was indeed her fault.
Yet all this morbid musing must be pushed aside! A long succession of joy built up; cherished, carefully planned and implemented. They must not know how double-edged a motherâs love can be. They must not guess how many hours she sat there praying that she may trade [her] longevity for their continued happiness.
This is too great a burden, too onerous a knowledge to impart.
(173 words)
Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter
Copyright © 2017  Montaffera All Rights Reserved
Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!
Nov 27
Hello đ
I have a new title and theme, provided by Sandy!
*Monty does a happy dance*
Ideas about what I could do with âScary Visionsâ and âNightmaresâ have been crowding my head for a day and a half now, but I have no concrete plan as yet!
I just set the timer and wrote for 20 minutes, and this is what I came up with:
She was trying to cool her coffee, but the fire came back again. Her gums ripped with the expanding fangs, and her black shoes changed into hooves.
There was no longer a cafĂ©; the beverage had begun to stink of copper. Somewhere, a woman screamedâŠabout toast going cold. It was urgent: chilled toast was outlawed in the kingdom of Breaking Fasts.
(What?)
Yes! There was to be a meeting at the town hall, because apparently someone had found schoolbags growing legs and skulking under furniture; awaiting their chance to bite unsuspecting ankles and spit impossible homework across freshly cleaned floors.
As she looked down at her hands, she realised they had also metamorphosised into giant claws that dropped balls at every opportunity because they never learned about discipline. The only thing they were good for now was painting with stolen varnish in a fetching shade ofâŠ
âSo have you READ it?â
âWhat…?â
âThe part of my contract that says I have to put up with your slovenly ways and sense of entitlement! Why the devil do I bother?!â
âNo ideaâŠâ said Marilyn, stumbling out of bed and away from her motherâs wrath.
(192 words)
Nope, still no real clue…
Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter
Copyright © 2017  Montaffera All Rights Reserved
Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!
Nov 26
Hey there, readers!
I got to bed sometime after 3am, after making poor hubby stay up to read the end (to make sure I was doing the story justice, and not compromising through exhaustion) and then (after Hubby had gratefully fallen asleep) obsessively re-reading the whole thing a few times for about an hour, cos I’d spent all week with it and I was already missing the characters… đ
I hope you forgive the fact that it somehow blossomed into a 20-page saga. I have been assured it moves along quickly enough by Hubby. He didn’t grudge me my enthusiasm for his first read-through.
I am crossing my fingers that the link below works for you all…be sure to message me on my Facebook or Twitter page if it fails, and I will get a copy of the PDF to you somehow!
Shallow_Graves_in_entirety_-_full_edited_secure
Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter
Copyright © 2017  Montaffera All Rights Reserved
Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!
Nov 25
Hello!!
I am still hard at work, trying to finish this crazy story! I am getting near the final ‘scene’ and have written over 3 thousand words today, but I am not quite there yet…
I thought I would put a longer piece up to show that IÂ have actually got something to show for my scribbled plans and tippy-tappy fingers, so here is part six!!
I will get the finished version up tomorrow, probably in PDF form, if it loads properly…but I will finish this story, at least in unedited form, before I go to bed!!! Argh!
I could see sheâd been crying. I never know what to say when women get all sappy, so I blurted out: âIâm sorry, mum. Youâve had it rough these past few weeks and I wish I could sort it for youâ
She started properly crying then. The big heaving kind of movie stuff. I wondered whether to just leave her to her potatoes and make a quick getaway.
âHave you seen that two little kids found that girl?â she wailed.
âWhat girl?â
âHailey. The pretty blonde that was missing; just 4 years older than Mona.â
âOh. No, I hadnâtâ
âWell they did. At Mook Beach where we used to take you. Remember? Mona used to call it âMoon Beamâ after one of her My Little Ponies.â Mum sniffed and wiped her nose right up her sleeve. It was impressively disgusting for a woman who has nagged me all my life about that sort of thing. I was glad she was going to be boiling those spuds before I had to eat them. âBuried in a sand duneâ she went on âThe poor kids will need counselling for the rest of their livesâŠyou two used to love it there, and I always felt it was so safeâŠâ
âJeezâ I said, not quite sure where this was going.
Mum spun to face me properly. âI questioned that silly little bitch Kelly!â I didnât like the way she was holding the vegetable knife. âgot her to finally tell me where Mona is.â
âDid she?! Great!â I smiled, but soon figured out that this was not the right response.
Mum dived across to the kitchen table and threw the paper at me âGreat?! GREAT?! Iâm worrying FOR A WHOLE WEEK that my daughterâs been murdered by some serial killer and her mother wasnât there to save her; then I find out she just swanned off somewhere?! She going to WISH someone had finished her off when I get a hold of her!â
****************************
Fiona was right, I wasnât supposed to be there and it did make me look extra-suspicious, I suppose, but I justâŠÂ
Fiona sat down beside me and told me sheâd handed the tie into the police, asked them numerous (probably annoying) questions and done a few other things I wasnât really listening to. I was wearing my sunglasses, but I was sure she could see Iâd been crying, because she fell blissfully silent after a while and just stared out over the field beyond Haileyâs garden with me.
We could hear the stream that ran just behind the garden fence and the bees in the lavender. I really should have been doing something a lot more cheerful with my Tuesday off, and I definitely should have been steering well clear of Miss Unpredictable to my left.Â
As if she could read my thoughts, Fiona said: âJeffreyâŠI just wanted to say Iâm sorry about the other day.â
âForget itâ I said, hoping to just hear water babbling again.
âI canât! I accused you of MURDER Jeffrey. That was very wrong of meâ
âYouâve apologised now though, so letâs just move onâ
Fiona sighed. âLook, itâs a lovely day â why donât I take you out for lunch to make up for it? I realise now that you were a gentleman with Hailey, but obviously cared about her very much. Youâre a good guy. I feel terrible.â
I sighed again âthereâs really no need. But if it will put your mind at easeâŠâ I hadnât eaten much in the last two weeks, and the peace I usually found in Haileyâs garden was gone anyway. Maybe if I had lunch with Fiona sheâd leave me alone? It was certainly worth a try.
Fiona picked a nice little cafe in the next town. Apparently she and Hailey had gone there when Fiona had been between jobs and visiting for a few days.Â
âI never saw you at Haileyâs,â I said.
âYeah, we didnât really get on as kids. I stayed in a B&B instead of at Haileyâs. Didnât want her neighbours banging on the door wondering what all the noise was about at 3am after one of us had had a skinful and picked a fight!â Fiona slowly stirred her coffee, intently watching the spoon go round. I imagine she was regretting that she wasnât close with her only sister.
âYour mum must have loved separating you both! Did she have to use the hose? I was a bit like that with one of my brothers. Heâs very respectable now though, has well-behaved kids and everythingâŠâ I stopped, suddenly thinking that may not have been a very tactful thing for me to have said. âAnyway, the menu looks good.â
âYes,â smiled Fiona âcan I recommend the club sandwich? Oh, good lordâŠ!â
I followed Fionaâs stare across the road to where a woman in her late forties was dragging another woman, who appeared to be in her late teens, down the front steps of the town hall. By her hair.
Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter
Copyright © 2017  Montaffera All Rights Reserved
Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!
Nov 24
Hi đ
Iâm just going to leave this here quickly as it is so late, and plan to tussle with the rest of the story tomorrow afternoon after the boys have had their haircuts (or in the early hours when a great idea grips me, whichever comes first!!)
Hope you enjoy it!
Dad was waiting for me at the back of the bus stop on Monday morning. I nearly jumped out of my skin.
âPsssst!â he said, like we were in a novel or something. I almost didnât recognise him, on account of the beard.
âWhoa! Why are you skulking about like some tramp? You nearly gave me a heart attack!!â
âWatch your mouth!â
âSorry!â I grumbled âJust wasnât expecting to see you!â
âYeah, wellâŠdonât tell your motherâ
âWhy not?! Sheâs in a state. Do you know Monaâs missing?â
âWhat do you mean âmissingâ?â
âYou know. Missing. Gone. Up and left without saying goodbyeâŠâ
âWatch your mouth!â
âSorryâŠâ
âWhy didnât you tell me?â Dad asked, actually looking like it bothered him.
âEmâŠyouâve been ignoring your phone?â
âOh. Well. I lost itâ he said.
âLost it?!â
âYeah, lost it! It happensâŠâ
Why did I have to be so closely related to such a jerkâŠ?Â
âOkâŠâ
Dad looked like he wanted to hit me, so I put some distance between us. âYou alright Dad? You look awfulâ he gave me a look glare, and I resisted the urge to duck. âWell you do. Just sayinââ
âIâm fineâ
âOkaaaayâ
âSo where is Mona? Did she say anything? Is she with a friend?â
âNo. Dad, we donât know where she is.â
âOh. WellâŠâ he looked about, as if someone was about to jump out of the bushes or something. âWell, let me know if she turns upâ
âHow?! Wear a red rose and meet you in a bloody cafĂ©?! God, Dad. Just come home and comfort mum a bit. Whatever trouble youâre in sheâll help you sort it outâŠâ
âIâllâŠIâll be in touchâ he said, and looked around him in that shifty way again.  âHereâs your bus. Look after your mum. I love you, son.â
And he hurried away.
I almost fell under the bus wheels in shock. Since when did Dad succumb to âParental Feelingâ? He must be in the poop up to his eyeballs this time.
I didnât mention Dadâs visit to mum, and apparently weâd gone a whole week now with no word from Mona. What the hell was going on in our family?!
âMumâŠâ
âYes??â she was savagely peeling potatoes and muttering to herself about the price of vegetables these days.
âAre youâŠok?â
She just sighed and looked at the ceiling dramatically. âWould you STOP asking me that?! What have I to be âokâ about??â
âIâm still here…?â I tried.
She just threw me a look.
(413 words)
Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter
Copyright © 2017  Montaffera All Rights Reserved
Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!
Nov 23
Hey there đ
As I hinted (!) on my Facebook page, this story is growing away from me. It is not being entirely faithful to the (secret) plan I set out for myself on Sunday, nor is it likely to stick to the letter of the rules from my new challenge post!
A character has wandered into the story that I didnât know needed to be there, and I now have a few different ideas whirling around my head about how to end the piece!
This always happens, dammit! Characters take over, storylines evolve, I get no sleep⊠The difference here is that I promised someone I would finish this, and people are watching. I have no time to get scared and shelve the project! What fun đ
It is a lot harder than one would think to wrestle a book off a determined woman without hurting her. They donât teach you that sort of thing in an all boysâ school. Fiona had relented eventually, however, and weâd moved on to something stronger than tea to settle our nerves a bit. She was still glaring at me, though.
âSo your nameâs not Paul? Youâre sure?â she said
I took out my driving licence and tossed it at her.
âIâm sureâ
At least she had the decency to go red, but no apology followed.
âSo, this Paul,â I said, to try and stop her coming up with more suspicious outbursts; âhe helped her move in, too?â
âWhatâŠ?â
âYou saidâŠâ
âOh yeah⊠No, he met her shopping and then followed her home a few days laterâ
âOhâŠâ
âSaid he lived âround hereâ
âOh. So you thoughtâŠâ
âWell, you identified her body!â
âIt was me who reported her missingâ
âOh.â She played with the tassel on my couch cushion.
âYeah.â I sighed.
âIsnât it supposed to be family that does that?â
âThey couldnât find you, and they wanted to know who she was quickly, or something, and I volunteered⊠Iâm sorry.â
âI move around a lot. We werenât close. Do you mind if I smoke?â
âYes.â I frowned.
âOutside?â
âIâd like to get on, actually. I have papers to markâ
âYouâre a teacher?â
âLecturerâ
âOh. Well. Iâm sorry I bothered you.â
Tries to knock me out with part of my own library and calls it âbotheringâ me! Maybe Hailey was the smarter one, after allâŠ
(264 words)
Loose endsâŠso many loose endsâŠ
[Pic is from here]
Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter
Copyright © 2017  Montaffera All Rights Reserved
Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!
Nov 22
Hi!!
Part 1 is here
Part 2 is here
And on to the third instalmentâŠ
Fiona wasnât as good-looking as her sister, but she was definitely the clever one. It wasnât just the glasses and the less confident manner. I just got the impression she was taking everything in. Sizing my life up. I tried not to act nervous.
âSoâŠyouâve been in Haileyâs house, then? Did they leave a mess in there? Hailey always liked everything so clean.â
âYes, she did. Never understood why. We werenât brought up like thatâ Fiona tried for a smile, but she still couldnât look at me for long. âDid you know her well?â
âI met her when she moved in about 5 years ago. Her removal men were being rough with her âsound systemâ. I went over to see if I could help.â
âThatâs not how she told itâ Fiona suddenly looked at me, and I didnât like what that look saidâŠ
âPardon?!â
âYou were harassing her, werenât you?â
âNo!â
âYes you were, she told me! Gifts and offers of nights out andâŠâ
âFiona! Calm down!â
âYou killed her!â
âWHAT?!â
âYou KILLED her! And I have proof, you bastard. I found your tie in her room!â
âEh?!â
âYes, your tie. You STRANGLED her, didnât you?â She suddenly grabbed a coffee table book on art, and waved it above her head like a mad woman.
âNo I did NOT! Fiona, you need to sit down! Jesus woman! Youâre going to bloodyâŠPUT THE BOOK DOWN!!!â
(234 words)
âTil tomorrow, dear friendsâŠ
[Pic is from here]
Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter
Copyright © 2017  Montaffera All Rights Reserved
Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!
Nov 21
Hiya đ
Iâve written the next 20 minute bit of my rolling story! (if you missed Part 1, youâll find it here).Â
Hope you enjoy it!
Fashion she calls it. Itâs just an excuse to be a real poser, get her cronies to take lots of shots of her with their posh camera – and for her to get out of eating mumâs crappy dinners.
âJack!â
âYeahâŠ?â
âCome down here, I want to ask you something!â
âOkaaaayâŠ!â Mum has not got off my case since Mona went missing. Sheâs doing my head in. âWhat?!â
âAre these yoursâŠ??â sheâs holding up Monaâs cigarettes.
âNo! Theyâre Moanerâs!â
âStop calling her that, Jack! And you know she doesnât smoke. Why are you being such a little shit about all of this?â
âShe does! âAppetite suppressantâ, she says. Câmon, do I look like someone whoâd smoke bloody menthols?!â
Mum sighed and sat down on the bottom step. âWhat the hell would I know; Iâm only your mother.â To my surprise, she took out a fag and lit up. Right there in the hall. Iâve never seen her smoke before. âI suppose youâd not use this poncy lighter, anywayâŠâ
âWhereâd you find them?â
âIn your denim jacket!â
âSheâs such a bitch! Whyâd she do that?! Dad would murder me if heâd seen them!â Mum blew a smoke ring, like some bloody professional, followed by another sigh. âYou ok, Mum?â
She snorted. âDo I look it?â
I made her budge up a bit, and put my arm around her âHave you heard from Dad?â
âNo,â a tear rolled down her cheek âthe tosser. Â When are you leaving?â
âEhâŠ?â
âWellâŠitâs a pact, isnât it? Iâm just wondering, so I donât get too many messages in tomorrow. Wouldnât want to waste money, or anything.â
âIâm staying putâ I said âunless you keep nagging me so much: then Iâll move to Granâs. Theyâll turn up, Mum. They always do.â
She snorted again, âYeah⊠Do you want that stew or will I just call the Chinese again?â
Guess which one I went for�
(316 words)
I think I have a tense out of place, but I get to edit on Saturday…
Catch you tomorrow đ
P.S. messages = groceries and errands đ
[Pic is from here]
Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter
Copyright © 2017  Montaffera All Rights Reserved
Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!
|
|
Recent Comments