Keep The Good Times Rolling

Introduction

I was not sure what to write about. Recently things have not been good and I have lost a lot of Vocal friends.

I’m also feeling that I will never get another Vocal Top Story with whatever the new method of determining them is, and that brings me a little down as I do put a lot of work into promoting Vocal and some of the Facebook groups with zero acknowledgement, but that is just my perception as I am a total attention whore.

The thing is while this is very upsetting I won’t let it stop me from writing and finding things to be positive about. This intro was going to be a lot more detailed, but I looked at it and thought that is far too depressing and I wanted this to be a positive post so that others could see that good things can always be found.

The friends I have lost, I leave the door open for them, because I really do treasure friendship.

So I am going to just list some things that put a smile on my face and hope that you can find some sunshine in the words I write. I suppose this could have been a poem, but my last two Vocal stories have been poems so really this needs to be a full article.

So what inspires me and what puts a smile on my face?

Friendship

I love chatting with friends, sharing things with them, getting ideas from them, getting praised, encouraged and loved by them. In the Facebook Vocal Groups the love and encouragement I get is the real reason that I keep creating stories. I am sad that two groups I loved have effectively blocked me, but the ones I am active in are absolutely wonderful, very positive and still growing.

Friends are absolutely the best thing.

Weather

I love sunshine, I love rain. Maybe high winds and grey days are not very inspiring, but I love rain when you are safe inside, and sunshine is a joy to walk in and feel on your skin. I also love snow as well until it turns to slush or solid ice, but snow is lovely too, although I suppose it is almost synonymous with Christmas.

Reading Books

I love reading because it can take you into a completely different universe for however long you are within those pages. It also gives me ideas to write my short stories. I am just in “The Oak and the Ram” by Michael Moorcock and I am tempted to write a story about The Cold Folk but that would have to be too close to the Moorcock and Celtic original so I am using this article to push that temptation away, although it may come back.

A book can take you places that you never could imagine.

Listening To And Playing Music

Today I have been listening to Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark and The Oyster Band and have thoroughly enjoyed every second I have listened to. I listen to music when I go on my walks and that stimulates me to create stories and poems. My tastes are eclectic so what I listen to today will be completely different tomorrow.

I also make noise on guitar, mandolin, keyboard and stylophone and that I find very relaxing as well.

Walking And Photographing Cats.

I walk on a daily basis to keep myself fit and enjoying taking photographs of cats and sharing them on Instagram, this is something that always puts a smile on my face, inspires me and makes me feel good.

Conclusion

I hope that this has given you ideas, and the whiney bits didn’t put you off too much. I always try to be positive even in the face of adversity.

I hope you have a smile on your face