“Kid, yer all het up ‘bout somethin’. What’s all the commotion?”

“Pro-motion, Pal. Thinkin’ we gotta work harder at promotin’ this here saloon. Git ourselves out there, like.”

“Hmmf. We’re doin’ jist fine, Kid. I ain’t never cottoned ta talkin’ m’sef up; it’s too much like braggin’ an’ blusterin’.”

“Naw, Pal, it’s jist gittin’ the word out. Lettin’ folks know who we are an’ what we’re about. Try it fer yersef, Pal.”

“Pal; ridin’ fer Carrot Ranch an’ backin’ up Shorty.”

“Jeez, Pal, that’s only nine words.”

“Thet’s right Kid, jist nine words thet tell who I am an’ what I do.”

“But shouldn’tcha a used 99 words?”

“TUFF call, Kid. Mebbe I already did. Yep, I started with 99 words, then 59, an’ finally pared ‘em down ta jist 9 words. Them 9’s kinda like my tagline. ‘Member, Shorty goes on ‘bout thet exercise fer story writin’…

Karaoke Coming Soon! Come Crow and Croon at the Saddle Up Saloon

“Clever, Kid, but how we gonna manage thet? We ain’t set up fer sound.”

“I hear ya Pal, but it ain’t quite like that. Won’t be no actu’l singin’.”

“Then it ain’t actu’l karaoke, but okie-dokie, what’cha got in mind?”

“Figger on havin’ folks rewrite song lyrics ta a familiar tune. Ya know, like Weird Al.”

“Thet could work. Ya got a theme?”

“Nope. Jist keep it fam’ly frien’ly. Any tune, jist give credit an’ apologies ta the original a course. Then put yer lyrics and/or link right in the comment section fer the May 4^thSaddle Up Saloon post. Or, if’n ya send somethin’ ta me c/o averydede.1@gmail.com afore April 30^th, mebbe that’ll be right in the post!”

“So yer sayin’ ta pick a song, then put yer own lyrics ta it an’ come…

See that new widget just to the right? No, we don’t really look at the widgets, do we, and for all I know it looks totally different on your device. But my top widget is the graphic for the weekly Saddle Up Saloon feature at Carrot Ranch. If you click on that widget you will be transported to the Saloon archive page at Carrot Ranch. If you follow Charli Mill’s blog, or if you pay close attention around the blogosphere and surrounds, you will have noticed that Mondays are fun days at the ranch and that my Ranch Yarn mainstay characters, Kid and Pal, are running a saloon. Yep. Fiction is funner than facts and that’s the truth. New posts at the break of Monday, or midnight Sunday, your choice, but -ish either way.

The Saddle Up Saloon is a judgment free, pandemic-free zone, so come unmasked…

Once upon a time, just about eighteen years ago, a child was born, the first and only of close friends, and while I am in fact neither his aunt nor godmother, I have been referred to as both. In the boy’s fourth grade year I was referred to as Mrs. Avery as I was his teacher in a class I remember well, a class that loved to learn and that delighted in the fairy tales read to them.

Now the boy is a young man in his last year of high school. Writing the essay that I share here (in italics) was a part of his preparations for going out into the world.

Everyone has topics that they can completely immerse themselves in. For some it’s sports; for others, acting and singing.

I used the timeless-placeless introduction that I did because I feel like this young man’s essay might connect…

It is my pleasure to introduce Kat Myrman,  a very prolific and talented poet and, as I found out from this interview, an all around creative person. Kat is the host of  the Twittering Tales prompt at Like Mercury Colliding , a fun weekly photo prompt for poetry or micro-prose. 

Kat Myrman,  “How D’Ya Do?”

What part of the world do you live in and what should the rest of the world know about your place?

Who am I? Well, that’s a loaded question! I suppose I could say that I am a daughter/sister/mother/grandmother/executive assistant/Marine Corps veteran who likes to write, paint and adopt rescue critters (as many as the city will allow me to have) on the side. My city is nestled in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, USA, and I live in a century old house in the historic district. I’m a transplant here though, having…

Anne Goodwin does not run a writing prompt challenge from her blog but her prolific and thoughtful book reviews do challenge her readers to think and to think about what books they might like to read next.

What part of the world do you live in and what should the rest of the world know about your place?

I live in a small town in near enough smack in the centre of England, not far from the birthplace of DH Lawrence and the supposed setting for Lady Chatterley’s Lover.

I’m a forty-minute drive from the Peak District National Park, and drew on one of my favourite walks for a scene of parent-child tension in my debut novel, Sugar and Snails. Nottingham is my nearest city and the main setting for second novel, Underneath. The region’s history of coal mining, and the legacy of the pit closures of…

I have enjoyed the vibe and the writing at sammiscribbles since discovering it about two years ago. Though I have only sporadically participated with the prompts put out by today’s interviewee, Sammi has prompted me to write some of my favorite pieces and to challenge myself as a writer of both prose and poetry. With her Weekly Writing Prompt Sammi presents not only a new word prompt, but a new word count, anywhere from ten to 150. 

I am so glad that Sammi agreed to this interview. I hope you enjoy learning about Sammi as much as I did. There’s much to relate to. Feel free to continue the conversation in the comment section.

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 Sammi Cox, How D’Ya Do?

Thanks very much for inviting me over to your blog today.  My name is Sammi Cox and I live in Bedfordshire, in the UK.  I’m a writer and book…

Here we are, the third Friday of the month, time once again to meet a blogger who prompts others to write. Denise Farley is the current helmsman for the Six Sentence Story ship, a fun prompt that I have participated off and on with for about two years. It is my pleasure to present Denise here.

Denise, how d’ya do?

Hey, D. Avery. Thank you for having me at your blog today and hello everyone! My name is Denise Farley author at, creator of, GirlieOnTheEdge. Originally from Rhode Island, I presently live in Northern VA, in the D.C. metro area. Despite its name, the Edge is a laid-back place, housing an eclectic mix of posts, music, and musings. Search back through the archives and you’ll see there’s a little bit of everything. I’m huge into music so there’s no lack of music videos. It’s also the weekly meetup spot…

Do you have a burning need to write? What lights your fire? Are you inflamed by writing prompts?

Recently I started an interview series here at my blog to show my appreciation for bloggers that offer writing prompts to those of us who might need that spark of inspiration. Thinking about prompts led me to thinking about the fire triangle.

The three elements of fire used to get taught in school; apparently it has been upgraded to the fire tetrahedron so that the inherent chemical chain reaction is represented along with oxygen, fuel, and heat. But I digress, probably because this is unprompted and there are no word count restraints.

Recall that the presence of these three elements sustains the reaction that is fire. Fuel is the combustible material, sufficient heat raises the material to its ignition temperature, and oxygen sustains the combustion. Fire.

We all have fuel to…