Scariest Moments

Life’s scariest moments often begin as nothing unusual.

The one I want to talk about happened when I was a young civil servant and had travelled to London. The trip involved an overnight stay and because I was very junior and did not have a London Club, I was placed in a modest hotel which also had many visiting tourists.

Among these there was a young man who was very drunk. He was fascinated by me. He liked my Scots’ accent. He loved my rippling, shoulder length red hair. He wouldn’t take no for any kind of answer. Eventually, I escaped the vestibule and got to the safety of my room.

Rooms were not en suite in those days and I encountered this pest again when I went to the bathroom. He was very drunk, but he saw that his room was next door to mine. Within minutes of getting back to my room, I was terrified by banging from inside my wardrobe. The man had opened the wardrobe in his room and climbed into it. From there he was banging on the plywood separating our two rooms and yelling, “Hey Miss Redhead.” I can only assume he passed out.

I hadn’t remembered this incident for years until Robin suggested a scariest moment topic for our monthly blog hop. Now, I wonder whether it was a subliminal basis for the opening of Bella’s Betrothal: “I trust, ma’am, you will not scream.” Chilling words spoken by Charles Lindsay who has climbed, not through a wardrobe, but a window from a pend and entered Bella’s room in the dark hours.

So what other scary events are related by the rest of the blog group. First up is A J Maguire: A.J. Maguire  http://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/ But the complete list is below, if you like that sort of thing.

Thanks for dropping by… Remember Mariah’s Marriage is half price on amazon and in the MuseItUp book store until 31 October ’14.

“Oh, Mariah, let us not quarrel. We will be married within the month. At least your papa’s house contains plenty of books. You may practise throwing them.” anne stenhouse

http://goo.gl/NxYxj5 Mariah’s Marriage UK

http://goo.gl/pASdjp Mariah’s Marriage US

 …a solitary figure ahead among some gorse and shrubs. Charles thought she made a beautiful picture in her riding habit with the exquisite hat Jenny Menzies wished to inherit. He thought the girl might get it sooner rather than later if he followed his instincts. At that precise moment, he wanted to shake Bella hard. Then he would lock her in the castle in Strath Menzies and hold her forever. anne stenhouse

http://goo.gl/5RBzIm Bella’s Betrothal UK

http://goo.gl/PKptQg Bella’s Betrothal US

https://www.omnilit.com/product-bella039sbetrothal-1312055-162.

html https://www.omnilit.com/product-mariah039smarriage-1173550-149.html

 Blog tour:

Heidi M. http://heidiwriter.wordpress.com/
Skye Taylor  http://www.skye-writer.com/
Anne Stenhouse  https://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
A.J. Maguire  http://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/
Rachael Kosnski http://the-doodling-booktease.tumblr.com/
Margaret Fieland http://www.margaretfieland.com/blog1/
Geeta Kakade http://geetakakade.blogspot.com/
Marci Baun  http://www.marcibaun.com/
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
Victoria Chatham http://victoriachatham.webs.com/
Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
Fiona McGier http://www.fionamcgier.com/
Rita Karnopp  NEED URL
Ginger Simpson http://mizging.blogspot.com/
Rhobin Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com/

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Photobomb, Bridezilla, Bake-off

Prickly dress suitable for Bridezilla

Photobomb, bridezilla, bake-off – what do they mean to you? New words have entered our language, whatever that language is, forever. Today the Scotsman newspaper had a short article about the ones that have crept into the dictionary most recently.

I may now be a little taller than Her Majesty as she is rich in years, but not much. It would be very hard for me to achieve any kind of photobomb. Definition – I think upstaging covers it. Or in the theatre – masking. Stealing the limelight might also do it. Apparently Her Majesty achieved one at the Commonwealth Games this year by crossing behind a group being photographed.

It’s not, in the case of this word, the action that’s new, but the way of describing it. Each generation has its own words and continued use of them can date us. Take Fabulous for example. That was The Word at my high school in the sixties.

Of course adults tried to curry favour by using it. Sadly, like almost getting the name of a pop band right, nothing establishes your out-of-it credentials quite as firmly as getting the jargon wrong.

I’m finding this myself at present as I’ve taken over being my writing club’s SAW representative. For years (and years, etc) I’ve described this as S A W saying each initial letter separately. The new kids on the block say saw as in one word describing a tool that cuts things. Tough. I can be very obtuse!

Bridezilla has been around for a wee while. It does take time for new words to make it into being recognised words. Bridezilla is a play on Godzilla, I suppose. Defined now as a ‘woman whose behaviour in organising her wedding is unacceptable.’ Quite. Do you know one, or several? If a girl can’t make a fuss about the height of the cake, the length of the dresses and whether Auntie Maud can take her teeth out to eat the meal or not, then what’s her life worth?

Moving swiftly on…

Bake-off The phenomenal success of a television programme always leaves spin-offs. It might be words, dress, attitudes, whatever… I can bake. all girls, and some boys at my school, were taught to bake, but in any case, one’s mum taught one to bake, too. There’s a world of difference of course between what I can bake and what the contestants on that programme baked. That’s the rub here. My friend is in a book group. The ground rules when it was set-up were few. One was ‘No competitive baking.’ Quite.

List of Sweet Regencies

Where could readers find a list of Sweet/Traditional Regencies? The question was posed by Jo and a solution provided by Francine. So here is a list for those of you who may not want too much bedroom action, but enjoy the Regency vibe. I’ve added mine.

A Superb short Story competition enters its second year

The Scottish Arts Club’s superb short story competition enters its second year and details are here

Many novelists write short stories, too and with an entry date in late March 2015, you’ll still have time for NaNoWriMo, won’t you?

MUSEITUP’s OCTOBER EXTRAVAGANZA

London Girl

“Oh, Mariah, let us not quarrel. We will be married within the month. At least your papa’s house contains plenty of books. You may practise throwing them.” anne stenhouse October is MuseItUp’s birthday month and this year there’s an enormous sale going on. Browse through the amazing titles on offer prices. Buy Mariah’s Marriage for half its usual price at the MuseItUp book store here Or from amazon, where you are. http://goo.gl/pASdjp Mariah’s Marriage amazon US http://goo.gl/NxYxj5 Mariah’s Marriage UK http://goo.gl/Eu23YN Mariah’s Marriage Au http://goo.gl/n8e7Jt Mariah’s Marriage Canada