Tag Archives: parenting

Daily AI Art Challenges Week of 8/2/26

August 17, 2026 rebekahjmarshall Leave a comment

This first challenge of the week was to create art where weather exists inside a person, animal, room or object—but nowhere else.

8/2/26 “Make Your Own Weather”

*Image created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompt using AI on Gencraft.com website.*

The next challenge was titled “The Person Who Feels Like Home.” The idea was to show emotional connection and warmth, belonging and trust in an image.

8/3/26 “BFFs”

The next challenge was about transformation and that moment when a solid, liquid, or gas is changing to another state. I chose the word becoming flesh, story coming to life, ink turning from solid to liquid to smoke and on to another transformation.

8/4/26 “Alchemy of Story”

The next day’s challenge was to depict a cause that we support or that is close to our hearts. I chose protection of pregnant women. 25% of women globally experience violence at the hands of their romantic partners when they are pregnant or postpartum. Pregnant women are 40% more likely to be murdered than non-pregnant women. 65% of all pregnant women who are murdered die at the hands of a current or former intimate partner. 80% of domestic violence survivors who own pets report that their abusive partner has threatened, harmed, or killed their companion animals (used as a deliberate tool for psychological coercion.) I am passionate about protecting all women, but especially the most vulnerable and their beloveds (animals, children, etc.)

8/5/26 “She Matters”

The next challenge was to create an ordinary daytime scene with moons hidden in impossible places. Mine was not impossible, but had lots of moons.

8/6/26 “Many Moons”

*Image created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompt using AI on ChatGPT.*

For the next one, we were supposed to create a scene of mass invasion in a sci-fi, horror, or fantasy setting (no zombies or robots allowed.) I thought of my sister’s horde of wiener dogs and how when they all run in a pack they are like a swarm of invading aliens. lol

8/7/26 “Dachshund Invasion”

The last challenge of the week was fashion show, only it had to be outrageous. Weird, ugly mix of patterns, sculptured, structural, etc. Worst dressed fashion sort of esthetic. I thought of things like bones, teeth, and eyes that could be really cool.

“Survival of the Fittest” – Darwin never specified how the fittest should dress. Draped in scales, teeth, ancient bones, and watchful eyes, this evolutionary ensemble turns millions of years of adaptation and a few unfortunate extinctions into haute couture. On this runway, we’re all about natural selection.

8/8/26 “Survival of the Fittest”

And here are some of the honorable mentions that I did not submit, but still published on my art website:

Essays, Poetry, Writing

Hafiz – Poem 43

July 21, 2026 rebekahjmarshall Leave a comment

Image created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompts using AI on Gencraft.com website.

I am reading Hafiz’s Little Book of Life, poetry by Hafiz-e Shirazi. He is challenging me to become more comfortable with ambiguity. I will share his poem and some of my thoughts on his poem (sometimes with the help of experts when the concepts are too hard for me), followed by a poem and some art inspired by his poem.

Hafiz’s Poem 43:

Life’s conditions
Constantly
Vary

Do not despair

Some thoughts:

This is another one that reminds me of an AA slogan. One of the sayings in that program is, “This too shall pass.” The circumstances we find ourselves in are constantly changing. We don’t have to necessarily identify with them, make them a part of our identity, or focus on them too much. It doesn’t say we are unaffected by the varying conditions. They might be difficult. They might deeply affect us. But they are not permanent. There is no need to be in the depths of despair, as Anne in Anne of Green Gables would say. It is not for forever, no matter how it feels in the moment.

The flip side of the equation is that fabulous conditions are also temporary. Not to be a wet blanket, but sometimes when things are going well, we expect them to stay wonderful forever. The reality is that there will always be ups and downs, dips and crests; that is just life. It is all part of the ride. And maybe the fluctuations are what remind us to cherish the good times.

My Poem 43:

This too shall pass
the needling uncertainty
pricking the skin from within
the insistent clamor that
it’s not enough
more must be done

Change is a constant
the swell of pride
perhaps undeserved
but so much better
than the crushing weight
of being a disappointment

Despair serves no purpose
save to root one
to permanent inactivity
rather screw courage
to the sticking place
so the arrow may fly

Hafiz. Hafiz’s Little Book of Life. Translated by Erfan Mojib and Gary Gach, Hampton Roads Publishing, 2023.

Essays, Writing

Where the God of Love Hangs Out (Book Review)

July 20, 2026 rebekahjmarshall Leave a comment

Amy Bloom has crafted a collection of short fictional stories that are exquisite. The language is breathtakingly gorgeous, though the subject matter is not always pretty. The only common theme is unflinching witness to people’s passion. And that is sometimes dark and ugly and confusing. Most of the stories ponder desire between people who are not meant to be together: an older woman and her adult step-son, couple friends whose partners are secretly having an affair, a married man who longs for the owner of the local coffee shop, or the killer who always aims for the heart.

One scene I thought expressed grief in a lovely, strange, poignant way was after Clare lost her husband William. “When Clare gets off the phone, there’s a raccoon in her kitchen, on the counter…He is eating a slice of bacon bread. He’s holding it in his small, nimble, and very human black hands. He looks at her over the edge of the bread, like a man peering over his glasses. A fat, bold, imperturbable man with a twinkle in his dark eyes. Even though she knows better…Clare says, softly, “William.”

This book is not for the easily offended, nor those seeking gentleness or happy endings. But for anyone who desires a genius turn of phrase and language that will bounce around inside you for a few hours or days, it is a gift. I dream of writing like Ms. Bloom. (Not necessarily the subject matter, but the art.)

Bloom, Amy. Where the God of Love Hangs Out, Random House, 2010.

Essays, Writing

It Happened One Autumn (Book Review)

July 20, 2026 rebekahjmarshall Leave a comment

*These images created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompts using AI on Gencraft.com website.*

It Happened One Autumn is the 2^nd book in the Wallflowers Series and is my favorite so far. I love the enemies to lovers trope and this one has it in spades. It also has false friends, kidnapping, near-death danger, terrible mothers, unexpected love, scoundrels, pride and prejudice sort of dynamics, love potion magical perfumes, and defying of stodgy conventions. It is also nearly entirely set at Stony Cross Park, Hampshire, England, which has become my favorite English Manor of all the English Manors I have read about due to the beautiful details about the gardens, ponds, fields, and paths. I want to live there in my fantasies.

This story follows the hopes of the second Wallflower, the American heiress Lillian Bowman. She is beautiful, fearless (unless she is expected to eat British delicacies like calf’s head), and certain she will never experience love. She and her sister Daisy will be spending a month at Stony Cross Park under the annoying eye of the 8^th Earl of Westcliff, Marcus. He is a serious man whose “constant striving for excellence led him to get the highest marks in school, to break all records in his chosen sports, and to judge himself far more harshly than anyone else ever could.” The American woman and the British man are both irritated by the mere presence of each other, so of course we know they are destined to have chemistry. And the ensuing developments are very satisfying.

Kleypas, Lisa. It Happened One Autumn, Avon Books, 2005.

These are images created from the description of Stony Cross Park, Hampshire in the novel:

Essays, Writing

Secrets of a Summer Night (Book Review)

June 28, 2026 rebekahjmarshall Leave a comment

In London, 1843, it is most egregious to be a young lady out in society if you don’t check all the boxes considered desirable for marriage. Four young ladies find themselves on the wrong side of the marriage market, sitting alone together and decide to form an alliance, calling themselves The Wallflowers. They make pacts to help each other snag husbands and form fierce friendships along the way. And what, pray tell, are their crimes? One has fallen on hard times and does not have as much money as she used to because her father passed away and left more debt than wealth. Oh, and she’s old, a whopping 25 years old. Another has a stutter. And two are from America, for shame.

They decide to start with Annabelle because her situation is the direst, this being her last season due to her aged decrepitness of 25 years and near spinsterhood. And to her chagrin, the only male sniffing around her is Simon Hunt, a brash, outspoken, not-very-gentlemanly, non-noble, annoying man who grates on her nerves. He is fascinated with Annabelle and has even suggested that he will take her on as a mistress if she gets desperate enough. Needless to say, she is not impressed by his offer. The ensuing tale is delightful, playful, and full of twists and turns. There are even several extremely climactic and traumatic events near the end that kept me flipping pages late into the night.

I will give away that Annabelle’s situation is satisfactorily resolved, but that means we have three more Wallflowers to marry off. I can’t wait for their books. And hints have already been given throughout Secrets of a Summer Night by Lisa Kleypas as to who the next pairing might be.

Kleypas, Lisa. Secrets of a Summer Night, Avon Books, 2004.

Essays, Writing

Three Weddings And A Kiss (Book Review)

June 22, 2026 rebekahjmarshall Leave a comment

Fancy Free by Catherine Anderson

Set in a rural town in Oregon in the 1890s, Fancy Free by Catherine Anderson is a charming tale of hijinks gone wrong, misunderstandings galore, and a literal shotgun wedding that throws a nearly blind young lady into a household of eight males. In her attempts to keep her blindness hidden for fear of rejection, Rachel scorches the clothes, puts salt in the pies, and trips over everything, leading to many wacky scenarios. And just as true love seems to be blossoming, another woman arrives on the scene to throw a kink in the works. I quite enjoyed this novella and could totally see it as a successful film. I would watch it in a heartbeat.

The Mad Earl’s Bride by Loretta Chase

The novella The Mad Earl’s Bride by Loretta Chase was my favorite of the four stories in this collection. It is set in the late 1820s in Dartmoor, Devon, England, with the dangerous bogs of the open moors playing a part in the storyline. The story centers around a mother and son who seem to experience similar symptoms of a brain disorder that has no cure. The young heroine of the story is a medical student who will not give up on researching the problem and refuses to kowtow to the opinions of most of the medical experts of the day. Her open-minded, science-obsessed, driven nature makes her a perfect match for the man who has lost all hope of survival, let alone comfort or peace. The romance is fabulous, and the peak inside the medical world of the early 1820s is fascinating.

Promises by Lisa Kleypas

I dedicated an entire review to this novella set in London because it went with the cannon of stories I was reading in The Gamblers of Craven’s Series. See “Promises (Novella Review)” for full details.

The Kiss by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

This is the shortest of the four novellas in the book and by far the most unsettling. This one takes place near Charleston, South Carolina, around the turn of the 19^th century, and addresses themes of human trafficking. A 19-year-old woman from London is being sold by her good-for-nothing uncle to some sleazy older man and escapes long enough to run into a tall, handsome, rich stranger, who just happens to be a very eligible bachelor. You can imagine where the story goes from here. Black servants in the home are mentioned, and the author makes a terrible attempt at dialect. There might be a reason this book is out of print. I will say that there is some good chemistry between the characters. I would not have chosen to end with this novella, but no one asked for my input.

Anderson, Catherine; Chase, Loretta; Kleypas, Lisa; Woodiwiss, Kathleen E., Three Weddings And A Kiss, Avon Books, 1995.

Essays, Writing

Promises (Novella Review)

June 19, 2026 rebekahjmarshall Leave a comment

Lidian – *Image created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompt using AI on Gencraft.com website.*

This novella by Lisa Kleypas called Promises, feels like an early piece possibly written as Ms. Kleypas was still figuring out her style. Though published after the 2 novels centered around 1820s London where Derek Craven’s casino entertains the uber-wealthy, it is set in the early days of that fictional world. The young woman at the center of the novella is earnest in love and all matters of propriety. She has lost her father, her fortune, and is barely keeping everything running for herself and her mother as she waits for her true love to return from his travels. She cannot imagine a world where he is not her future.

I love that this young woman, so lacking in relationship experience, is certain that her steadfast loyalty is the right course for her life. How long is too long to wait? Is her waiting a pipe dream? Does the object of her affection feel as strongly toward her as she does toward him? Has he pined for her for over a year as she has for him? Only his return can answer any of these questions. And though this piece is short, it contains much of the elegance, charm, romance, adventure, and passion, just in a small package. And in order of books, I would read it first before Then Came You as a little introductory taste of Derek Craven’s gambling house before launching into the two meatier books of The Gamblers of Craven’s Series.

Kleypas, Lisa. Promises, Anderson, Catherine; Chase, Loretta; Woodiwiss, Kathleen E., Three Weddings And A Kiss, Avon Books, 1995.

Essays, Poetry, Writing

Hafiz – Poem 42

June 16, 2026 rebekahjmarshall Leave a comment

All images created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompts using AI on Gencraft.com website.

Hafiz’s Poem 42:

Doing good work
There’s no room
For hesitation

Some thoughts:

I like the simplicity of this poem. It reminds me of the AA saying to do the next right thing or do the next thing right. If there is work to be done, do it. Don’t procrastinate, let fear stand in the way, second-guess yourself, doubt. Do what needs to be done, whatever that may be. Create that piece of art, write that song, clean that closet, give that gift, send that letter, make that phone call, speak that kindness. There is no point delaying the goodness that can flow from the blessing you can be.

My Poem 42:

Cleaning the cat box
should not require such
extreme exertion of will,
but I find myself psyching
current me up with pep talks,
giving little motivational speeches,
calling my own name in my mind,
reminding present me that future me
will be grateful the chore is done.

Hafiz. Hafiz’s Little Book of Life. Translated by Erfan Mojib and Gary Gach, Hampton Roads Publishing, 2023.

Essays, Writing

Then Came You (Book Review)

June 15, 2026 rebekahjmarshall Leave a comment

*Red dress images created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompts using AI on Gencraft.com website.*

I love romances that contain the enemies to lovers trope, with a splash of danger, dramatic irony, and breaking of social conventions. Then Came You by Lisa Kleypas delivers on each of these qualities and more. There is gambling, kidnapping, bear rescues, fox hunts, and a scheming heroine who defies as many social conventions as she can as she fights to save her family.

There are more steamy scenes than I was expecting for a piece of historical fiction set in 1820s London, that’s for sure. But I was fascinated by the fickle gossip that could make or break reputations, ruin lives, and restore order in the uber-rich circles of the aristocratic elite, as seen in Regency-era novels and shows like Bridgerton. This is the first of 23 books and stories in this world and/or family lineage that I plan to read by this author. I was excited to discover Ms. Kleypas through a BookToker/ fellow reader/ TikTok account I follow.

Some parts of the story felt a bit reminiscent of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, but there were even more layers, with our “shrew” Lily having her own complicated past to manage. Plus, she is a much more likeable character from start to finish than that of Kat in Taming of the Shrew. I could totally see this as a fabulous movie with Holly Earl playing Lily and someone like Charlie Hunnam or Theo James as the love interest. And I can’t wait to read the next book because I bet it is going to focus on the owner of the casino, who we only get brief glimpses of in this novel, but is obviously a multi-faceted character with an ocean’s deep story ready for the telling.

Kleypas, Lisa. Then Came You, Avon Books, 1993.

Essays, Writing

How to Stop Time (Book Review)

May 5, 2026 rebekahjmarshall Leave a comment

I can think of few premises more horrible than that of Matt Haig’s novel How to Stop Time. It is a world where some among us age painstakingly slower than average. The protagonist appears to be in his early 40s but has been alive on this earth for over 400 years. From French aristocracy to quaint village life in old England, from the dangerous streets of Shakespeare’s London to the London of the 21^st Century, we are swept along with his story almost against our will. If life is a serious of tragedies with bright spots in between, imagine the tragedies of more than 5 lifetimes. The body still has aches and pains, the mind battles ups and downs, depression, anxiety, but with the added fears of being discovered, labeled a witch, a modern miracle, or a danger.

There are networks built to “protect” these long-living humans, but there are also organizations bent on finding and studying them like lab rats to enhance the lifespan of the rest of humanity. Staying hidden from both is nearly impossible, especially as modern technology advances to the point of photography, video, then internet and cell phones, and eventually social media. And how is one to love, to open the heart to vulnerability, knowing you will outlive any partner, child, grandchild, or friend? Oh, living with the pain of loss would be most unbearable for someone like me. I don’t even enjoy pondering this fictional concept any longer than I must.

But Mr. Haig has masterfully pondered these question and more in his tribute to family, humanity, love, and ode to living in the present. If nothing else, this book has made me thankful that my time here is brief in comparison. It is a good reminder to appreciate what we have and take no one we care about for granted. Change and death are inevitable constants that we must learn to accept; the alternative being the illusion of stagnation until the day we die.

Haig, Matt. How to Stop Time, Penguin Books, 2017.