Category Archives: Daily Droppings

February Hits & Misses (a recap)

Wow! Another month of 2022 has wrapped-up already. I know February is the shortest month, but sheesh, it really flew by!

I want to give one last February shout-out to Sandra, from What Sandra Thinks for providing an inspiring list of prompts for the month. They were very open ended which provided nice flexibility of interpretation. While, I made some additional posts in addition to the daily prompt posts, it was nice to have a regular source of inspiration each day.

Here is a recap of the top three posts and the worst performer (based on number of views) for February.

No. 1: Get Your Golden Shovel (series)

The Stats: 67 views for top post (200+ views for all posts in the series)

The Gist: A poetry collaboration series based on the Golden Shovel form. Members of the writing and blogging community joined to provide some very creative content.

The Take-away: What a blast! I was super happy with the collaboration and had a fun time myself. This series will be back (in a slightly modified format for poetry month in April). Stay tuned and I encourage you to give it a try (it’s a great form for both established poets and newbies).

No. 2: Apples Eating Zebras

The Stats: 30 views

The Gist: A poem! This is actually another Golden Shovel poem but not part of the above mentioned series. I kinda got addicted to the form and was playing around with it on an ad-hoc basis.

The Take-away: I adore this poem. It was supper fun to write and even more fun to share. Thanks for all of the appreciation received. If you missed this one be sure to check it out!

No. 3: Daily Droppings: “You Knew?”

The Stats: 29 views

The Gist: This was the first post in the new series “Daily Droppings” which sourced its inspiration from Sandra of What Sandra Thinks. The prompt for this post was “You Knew?”. It tells the tale of a very serious violation of privacy.

The Take-Away: I’m not sure why this one performed stronger than the others in the series. Perhaps it’s just a result of being the first and getting a few extra views throughout the month.

The Flop: Daily Droppings: “Title”

The Stats: 6 views

The Gist: A shameless promotion of my five indie published titles.

The Take-away: You all apparently don’t appreciate shameless promotion. But I ask you, as an independent writer, how else to spread the word of my babies? It’s quite the dilemma. On the positive side, I did manage one sale this month (up from 0 for the past six months)! While the timing suggests it wasn’t related to this post, I’ll take it as a silver lining.

Be well,

Monty

Daily Droppings: “are we there yet?”

Special thanks to Sandra from What Sandra Thinks who created a series of daily prompts for the month of February which are the source of inspiration for this series.

This is the last post of this series. What’s up for March? I don’t know. Let’s find out together.

The prompt: “are we there yet?”

Road Trip!

As I saw the prompt for today, I started to get excited. I’ve had some awesome road trips in my life and I started rummaging through my memories and couldn’t help smiling. So many memories, in fact, that there are way too many for a single post. So I’ve decided to make a list of trips that I will tackle in a future series (with a more road warrior appropriate title). I’ll provide a little color commentary here as a warm up. So a non-exhaustive list…

America, the Beautiful (Summer ’95) – I was a fresh college graduate with a free summer before starting work beginning to pay back all my student loans. My new job would take me overseas but I’d yet to see much of my own country. So when I had to make the choice on how to get from NY to Portland, Oregon for day one, I decided to hit the road. It was a zig-zagging doozie of a drive. Over 10,000 miles in six weeks or so. Despite being a pretty naïve kid (who had no idea just how naïve I really was), this was one street-smart decision. Key Characters: Monty, Zoe (just a friend without a drivers license), and The Tank. The Tank is a whole story unto itself. 

Trip to Anywhere (Summer ’08) – I think this is my ‘coolest dad ever’ moment (alas the coolness didn’t last, but hey, I’ll take credit where I can). I’ll have do some additional research to confirm the year, but I think it was ’08. We had a long weekend to burn and could go anywhere. But rather then plan it out, I assigned the kids the navigator role and put them in charge. I just asked them to give me an initial direction to get started (they chose North) and then they used an I-Pad to find interesting places to see and redirect me as we went. We had an absolute ball! Key Characters: Monty, Ellie (daughter, 11), Tommy (son, 6), and The Flash.

Thrill Ride to Hell (Summer ’10) – This was my attempt to recreate the magic of the “Trip to Anywhere (Summer ’08). In that aspect I failed miserably, but it wasn’t a total loss. The destination was set (Orlando, FL) but I gave the kid’s control over the itinerary on the way down and we ended up in quite a few amusement parks and had our fair share of laughs. It was the drive home that almost ended me. We’d met up with my wife and her parents in Florida (they had flown down to meet us) and we all drove back together. It was a very, very, long drive. Key Characters for Part I: Monty, Ellie (daughter, 13), Zoe (niece, 11), Tommy (son, 8), and The Bus. Additional Characters for Part II: Monty’s Wife, Grandpa, Grandma.

There were others and I’ll add to this list in the future. For now, drive safely.

Be well,

Monty

Daily Droppings: “come back”

Special thanks to Sandra from What Sandra Thinks who created a series of daily prompts for the month of February which are the source of inspiration for this series.

The prompt: “come back”

“Mochi RIP 2020” – originally published in Thirteen Words

Be well,

Monty

Pop! Pop!

A lighthearted poem (because I needed one).

Pop! Pop! The music rocks!

Lifts me up by its beat on repeat, repeat.

It caught me by my little toe, it’s moving to and fro.

Pulling my feet to the dance floor and yelling Yo!

Body, no longer resisting, catches the rhythm

Mind, finally catching on, releases its cynicism.

Pop! Pop! I move. High on pop rock.

Be well,

Monty

Daily Droppings: “disillusioned”

Special thanks to Sandra from What Sandra Thinks who created a series of daily prompts for the month of February which are the source of inspiration for this series.

The prompt: “disillusioned”

“ “ – originally published in Thirteen Words

Be well,

Monty

Daily Droppings: “six-pack”

Special thanks to Sandra from What Sandra Thinks who created a series of daily prompts for the month of February which are the source of inspiration for this series.

The prompt: “six-pack”

I know you are all waiting with bated breath to see this little piggies’ six-pack…sorry to disappoint.

“Potvalor” – originally published in Monty’s Very Short Shorts

Be well,

Monty

Daily Droppings: “Title”

Special thanks to Sandra from What Sandra Thinks who created a series of daily prompts for the month of February which are the source of inspiration for this series.

The prompt: “Title”

Can you forgive me for another day of shameless plugs? I mean with a prompt like “title” how can I not?

Currently I have five titles available for your enjoyment (please, pretty pretty pretty please! – no, I’m not above begging…it’s been over six months since my last sale so I’ve no pride left – no, I’m not above playing the pity card either…)

One thing you may notice…I was so excited about my titles and illustrated covers that I actually forgot to include my name on almost all the covers. Now that is putting the art above the artist…hehe (or just poor thinking…or both).

Monty’s Almanac 202x

Monty’s Almanac 202x is an autobiographical collection of short stories, poetic prose, and quirky cartoons.
Monty’s Very Short Shorts an illustrated collection of 366 very short stories, one for each day of the very strange year 2020.
Thirteen Words is an illustrated poetry collection. Each poem is constructed of exactly thirteen words. This is the first volume in a three volume series.
Thirteen Words II is an illustrated poetry collection. Each poem is constructed of exactly thirteen words. This is the second volume in the series.
Thirteen Words III is an illustrated poetry collection. Each poem is constructed of exactly thirteen words. This is the final volume in the series.

If you do decide to pick up a copy, do let me know and I’ll slather you with globs and globs of gratitude (or just a simple thank you, if you prefer).

Be well,

Monty

Daily Droppings: “Argue”

Special thanks to Sandra from What Sandra Thinks who created a series of daily prompts for the month of February which are the source of inspiration for this series.

The prompt: “Argue”

“Cold War” – originally published in Monty’s Very Short Shorts

Be well,

Monty

Daily Droppings: “Purpose”

Special thanks to Sandra from What Sandra Thinks who created a series of daily prompts for the month of February which are the source of inspiration for this series.

The prompt: “Purpose ”

“Purpose” – originally published in Monty’s Very Short Shorts

Be well,

Monty

Daily Droppings: “Buckets of Paint”

Special thanks to Sandra from What Sandra Thinks who created a series of daily prompts for the month of February which are the source of inspiration for this series.

The prompt: “Buckets of Paint”

A wanna-be unknown poet throwing a

Bucket of colorful words upon a globed

Canvas and calling it a bowl of fruit.

from “Apples Eating Zebras” by Monty Vern

Be well,

Monty