It’s Saturday, and David and I have braved the wind and the cold to get to the bar for a much needed bit of relaxing. Cheryl is here and we’re going to have an adult beverage, maybe some food as we wrestle with Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. Linda reminds us, so I’ll remind any Thursday Doors stragglers that pingbacks may still be broken – check to see that your link landed where it should have. As for Linda’s prompt:
“Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is ‘prize.’ Use it as a noun or a verb; use it any way you’d like. Have fun!”
If we were having a beer, you’d be wondering about social media, among other things.
“Did you lose a bet with Elon Musk, Dan?”
“Excuse me? That’s an odd question, David.”
“I’m not sure it’s odd given what I’ve been reading.”
“Well, it doesn’t seem like you’ve been reading a menu, David. You guys have been here for several minutes, and no one has ordered anything.”
“I will have a John Howell’s Special, Cheryl. I’m guessing Dan will be having a beer.”
“OK. Now you guys can go back to the odd and unpredictable.”
“Unpredictable? How did that get thrown in?”
“Dan, you’ve been tweeting this week like there’s a prize at the bottom of the box of Twitter.”
“Now that’s an odd analogy, David, but I did like getting to the bottom of a box of Cracker Jack.”
“Here’s your beer, Dan. David, here’s your bourbon, seltzer and ice. And the prize for you is three cherries. Dan what was your favorite prize?”
“You have to guess, Cheryl.”
“I’d say the gizmo where you had to put the little BBs in the holes.”
“You’re close. My favorite was the one where you had to run the BB around a maze. David, what about you?”
“I liked the models. There were some you had to make, but others, like trains and planes were pre-assembled.”
“OK, but back to my original question, what’s the concern about me and Twitter?”
“It’s just that I’ve seen a lot of tweets from you. I was wondering if you’re tweeting more often or if all the good people left.”
“All the good people?”
“I’m sorry, Dan. I didn’t mean that to sound like that. I only meant that I follow what I consider to be a group of good people—yourself included—but I’ve been seeing more of you lately.”
“Well, I have been using twitter a bit more lately, but mostly to call attention to others. I haven’t been pontificating.”
“That’s good.”
“Which part?”
“Both, Dan, both. I did notice a few tweets about your books.”
“And…?”
“And books by others. So, what’s up with that?”
“I read how twitter is in danger of becoming an overdone reduction.”
“A what?”
“Ooh, I know what that is.”
“Can you fill me in, Cheryl?”
“Are you having another round, David?”
“Yes, of course.”
“When you’re trying to concentrate the flavors left in a pan, if you go too far, you waste away all liquid. You’re left with a sticky, burnt coating on the pan.”
“So, that’s happening to Twitter?”
“People are worried about it happening.”
“Is this because good—I’m sorry, you know what I mean—people are leaving, Dan?”
“People, good or otherwise are leaving, but Twitter has also allowed a lot of bad actors back on the platform.”
“Don’t say platform.”
“Why not? That’s what it is, David.”
“I know, but I don’t like the word. It’s a techie word, like ‘bandwidth’ and I don’t want it creeping into the normal daily lexicon.”
“So, I might not be good, and now I’m not normal?”
“Dan, you’ve never been normal.”
“He’s right, Dan, but we like you. Here’s your Modelo and David, here’s your stuff.”
“What’s so special normal, anyway? I mean it’s like being average, right?”
“Again, it’s your people that put average in the center of a normal distribution.”
“My people? David, who exactly are my people?”
“People who think technology and math and science are normal. I mean, it comes as no surprise that your favorite prize was a puzzle.”
“But David, I’m not tweeting about math and science. I’m tweeting and retweeting what authors have to say about their books and the books they are reading, or their tweets and blogs about writing.”
“You’ve also tweeted about Artificial Intelligence, Pittsburgh sports and about trains.”
“Like the prizes you liked finding at the bottom of the Cracker Jack Box?”
“Touché. Maybe you are normal, Dan.”
“I don’t want to be normal, David.”
“I was being kind. You’re in no danger of that.”
By the way: For the folks who look for my posts according to my normal schedule, there will be a post on Tuesday. Two Review Tuesday returns.
I have been tweeting more often lately, and, at least according to my search, I’ve introduced a new hashtag #StoriesWorthSharing – If you’re still on Twitter, Tweet or Retweet some stories worth sharing. Use the hashtag if you like, but spread some good news, some good blogs, some good books. We don’t want to let all the good stuff boil off.
All five of my current books are now available in audio book form thanks to Amazon KDP’s Virtual Voice process. The voice is AI generated, but I can honestly say, it’s pretty darn good. The audio books are reasonably priced (all below $7 US) and, if you already own the Kindle version and want to add an audio version, you can do that for $1.99. There is a five-minute sample on the book page for each book. If you’re interested, click on any of the Dreamer’s Alliance book links below the image or on the link below for my latest book.
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