50 States of Pray: 34 U.S. & 9 Foreign States signed on!

Aloha,

Hope everyone has recovered from the fun that was CheersFest, and don’t forget to tune in to Tossing It Out this coming Monday to see who Lee picks as his two winners. (I just hope that Elise is making a Brown Jacket that Mini Alex can wear :)

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Speaking of next week, the 50 States of Pray event is only eleven (shopping) days away, so here’s an update – as of Christmas Eve, 2013.

·         We have a total of seventy-six participants !!!

·         Thirty-four U.S. States are already represented

The “missing” eighteen seventeen sixteen States are:

·         Alabama

·         Arkansas

·         Idaho

·         Iowa

·         Kentucky

·         Maryland

·         Mississippi

·         Nebraska

·         New Mexico

·         North Dakota

·         Ohio

·         Oregon

·         Rhode Island

·         South Dakota

·         Tennessee

·         Vermont

·         Washington

·         Wyoming

 

So far, eight nine Foreign States are represented

·         Australia

·         Belgium

·         Canada

·         France

·         India

·         Jamaica

·         Mexico

·         Republic of South Africa

·         United Kingdom

 The U.S. States most represented, as of Friday morning, are California and Florida (both have four reps.)

The Foreign State most represented, as of Thursday, is the United Kingdom (four reps.)

 If you know anyone who’s interested in repping for one of the elusive sixteen, or to increase the nine overseas, please send them my way – or send them to the Linky list here!

(I'll continue to update this post as new states come in.)

Sincere thanks to everyone concerned for all your help in promoting and sharing information related to 50 States of Pray. This has been such a positive experience and I’m really looking forward to reading your posts.

 

See you on Christmas Eve :)

 

Santa & Mrs. Claus at the Honolulu City Lights
 

Lee Bird *is* CheersFest - Let the Roasting Begin :)

Aloha,

Hosted again by Mark Koopmans, Morgan Shamy, David Powers King, Stephen Tremp and The Ninja Captain himself, it’s time for CheersFest 2.0 :)

This year’s recipient is Arlee “Lee” Bird.

In order to proper cheer (or roast) Lee, we suggested four questions to answer today, and all should be no longer than 20 words each:

“Let’s DO this!” (he said, in a deep Austrian voice)

·         Why did Lee come up with the A-Z Challenge?

I think Lee knew that five existing blogs wasn’t enough, and hey, this one should be easy to do.

·         If someone dreams about being a juggler, what does it mean?

It means earning enough money so Lee can buy a sexy ‘70s suede jacket (see below :)

·         Is a post by Mr. Bird worth two in the bush?

Any post by Lee is always worth reading (aaahhhh:), so I’ll go search for the ones in the bush, too… unless I find there’s bugs… or the missing DVD of A-CAV playing some Rush riffs on his Gibson!

·         Who could play Lee in a documentary? (Living or dead.)

Looking at this picture, I would go with Peter Falk (Columbo) or a young Kirk Douglas, who starred in the 1953 movie, The Juggler.

 

In +/- 100 words, (excluding the title) write flash fiction using all these prompts:

·         Bird

·         Juggler

·         Challenge

·         Brown Jacket

·         Tossing

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The Interview and the Inventory

The Juggler entered the cluttered office and shook hands with the editor.

“Mr. Bird. Too early to call you Arlee?” said his prospective boss, who leaned back in his chair, with an appearance that gave unshaven and unkempt a bad name.

“I prefer Lee, if that’s OK,” he said, removing his beloved brown suede jacket. He laid it gently over a chair and used his suede travel brush to comb out six stray hairs.

“Leigh? Isn’t that a girl’s name, son? I know a writer called Leigh… or is it Abby? I can never tell.”

“L-E-E.”

“You a fan of Lee Majors, son? I loved me that Six Million Dollar Man. It was so realistic.”

Lee realized this was a challenge.

“Mr. Cavanaugh, why is there a wooden picture of a ninja guitar player on your desk?”

“Son, you got insecurities? You need to be tossing them out if you’re working for the Idaho Hoe Reporter.”

Lee made some chirping noises and pulled a darkened cell phone from his pocket.

“Sorry, Mr. Cavanaugh, but I’ll have to pass. There’s a dragon friend of mine who’s taking some time off, and we're going to go roast some of those really small marshmallows in Lucky Charms. I know farming equipment is important, so thanks, and I’m sorry I won’t have the chance to inventory your town’s hoes.”

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For Bonus Points:

·         In +/- 40 words, can you come up with a caption for Lee’s Facebook picture?

 

 

 

“Kids, don’t try this at home! It takes years of practice and a Tom Selleck moustache to be able to wear a sweet suede jacket such as mine.”

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Thanks to everyone who participated and Lee is scheduled to announce the two prize winners next Monday.

PS: Thanks to everyone who tweeted, texted or talled, er, called me Sunday as I ran/walked/zombied my way through the Honolulu Marathon.

I finished - PTL - and will post some pics once I get them:)

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For more information about Lee, talk to Blogman :)

Blogman is here :)

 

IWSG - A Marathon of Non-Writing...

Aloha,

 “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;”

                                                             – William Shakespeare (Henry The Fifth)

 

Yes, it is time, once more, to figure out if it’s IWSG or ISWG, but what the heck, I’m surely glad that A-Cav came up with this wonderful idea of the Insecure Writers Support Group.

For me, it’s pretty simple this month.

This Sunday, I’m running my tenth and final (yuh, right) marathon. My first (in 2001) should have been the Honolulu Marathon, (but I pulled out after a training injury) so it’s only fitting to finish where I was supposed to start.

The problem is I’m not prepared. I haven’t ran an inch in preparation, so it may take me a while to finish.

However, I don’t care what my time is, but finish I will.

So, if I am so committed to dragging my butt through 26.2 miles of a tropical climate-infused “race,” why am I struggling to write while sitting my butt in a cool, air-conditioned room?

If I know I won’t quit the marathon unless the medics take me down, why am I scared to write?
Why?

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Legal notice: This IWSG post sponsored, in part, by Whiners Helping Individuals Notify Everyone, Inc.

"Have you drank your pitifully half-empty glass of whine today?" (c) 2013 WHINE Inc.

(All rights reserved... because, well we said so, and it's really mean and not nice of you at all to take our words - and I worked really hard at writing it and my hang nail hurt a lot every time I hit the "Z" key, and well why would you take our words and not tell us. Seriously, that's not nice. I'll tell my mom.)

 

 

50 States of Pray - Linky List is open :)

Aloha,
About two months ago, I had a random thought.
Normally, these get me into trouble, but this one sounded like a great idea:
Why not set aside a moment to reflect on the year that was and share some hopes for the next year?

I’m calling it the 50 States of Pray event and I’d love to find at least one person (but the more the merrier) from each U.S. state to participate.

But wait... as they say on TV... This is absolutely open to anyone, anywhere. Imagine if we got one person from 50 independent states (countries), too. That would be amazing!

All that’s required is to take a moment and about 100 words. Then, on Dec. 24, 2013, please share a prayer, a thought, a memory, a hope and even a regret about the past and/or a wish for the future.

If you can’t post on the day... it’s Christmas Eve, Mark... (I know, I know :) feel free to schedule your post to go live on the 24^th.
I'm *NOT* expecting people to comment - my only hope is that people can stop by to read, relax and reflect for as much time as they can spare :)

Simple rules:

A.    When clicking the Linky List "You are next... Click here to enter" button, you'll first be asked for the link title (your name) or blog title. Please add a hyphen and the two-letter state abbreviation AFTER your name/blog, so I can track which state you'll be “representing.”
(e.g. Mark Koopmans – HI)

A1.     If you’re representing a foreign state or country, please add the 2- or 3-letter Country Code, so I can track which country you’ll be representing (e.g. Harold Pottear – ENG)

(As a courtesy, I've added the names and states/countries of those who've previously responded - but if I've misspelt a name or added the wrong state, just let me know!)

B. I appreciate everyone’s help so far, and would so love some more extra help promoting 50 States of Pray.

        B1. On Twitter, please promote the event by tweeting this post and/or using #50StatesOfPray hashtag.

        B2. Any help with sharing this post via Facebook would also be much appreciated.

The response from the Blogging Community (and beyond) has been wonderful and I’m looking forward to reading and sharing with you all.

In closing, here’s my simple goal behind 50 States of Pray:

Is there not a better time to help make the world a better place than Christmastime?

Deep down in my heart, I truly believe someone, somewhere will absolutely benefit from your words.

Merry Christmas, thanks for helping spread the word, and I hope to read you soon :)

And that’s it.
The Linky List below is now officially open!