Today's exercise is a bit difficult to follow in blog form. You are supposed to write directly into the book on the provided blank lines. Randomly throughout the blank lines are different letters. Once you get to them, you are supposed to use that letter. But since I'm not writing in the book, I'll make sure to start each sentence with the next letter. Here we go! (We're supposed to start with New Year's resolutions make me... and the first letter is an N.)
New Year's resolutions make me neurotic. Every year we set a new goal that we're supposed to uphold throughout the entire year. Whoever came up this rule, I assume, didn't understand how seriously people would take it. Year after year, people set unrealistic goals for themselves, only to fail by February. Even though nearly everyone gives up, it doesn't take away the feeling of failure. A better idea would be, "This new year, I propose to ___ more," whether it be more drinking, or eating cake, or sitting by the pool, or vacationing. Rephrasing it this way would definitely alleviate the pressure of say, losing 20 pounds or quitting smoking. Suddenly New Year's resolutions would be fun! Read more for pleasure! Enjoy more nights out! Sing at the top of your lungs just for fun! Of course, only you can make the change from a stressful resolution to an exciting resolution. Let 2011 be the year that you actually keep your resolution! Use the months ahead to come up with a really good one. Try setting the goal to go rollerskating once a month. (It just might help you lose those 20 pounds that you resolved to not worry about!) Or simply resolve to spend more time with your family and friends. Next year just might be the best year of your life.
Okay, that one was not fun. Hated the topic! I hope tomorrow is better!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Day One: Circle Game One
Directions:
Circle the one word that most appeals to you:
Alabama Banister Carousel Diesel Exorcist
Circle another word that appeals to you:
Flatulence Garage Harried Insensitive Jambalaya
Circle yet another word that you find appealing:
Keepsake Lamb Massage Nonsense Oriole
Use these three words in a story.
Start with: Sometimes I feel just like a gerbil, running around and around on his wheel!
My turn:
Sometimes I feel just like a gerbil, running around and around on his wheel! The in-laws are coming in to town from Atlanta tomorrow, and my goodness, it takes a lot to please them! First they require the bed sheets be Egyptian cotton 420 thread count double needle hemmed. Double needle hemmed! I don't even know what that means! But I rush out to Bed, Bath and Beyond and find just the set in a serene sky blue, hoping that the blue will subliminally calm them down. (I once read in Better Homes and Garden that to create a calm room, you are to paint the walls blue.)
The next order of business is how they take their coffee. I have to run around town looking for their specific coffee of choice (choice? Is it really a choice?): Atlanta Coffee Roasters premium blend. Except they didn't tell me it was specific to Atlanta. They claimed "Atlanta" was the founder's name. I can't believe I fell for that one. After many fruitless stops at grocery stores in my area, a kind clerk at the Piggly Wiggly commented on my harried behavior in the coffee aisle. After I explained my predicament, he gave me a tip: "Check shoffee.com. They carry more then 300 different coffees."
I rushed out of the store, yelling thanks to the clerk in my dust. Sitting in my near-its-death Volkswagen Rabbit, I quickly pulled up shoffee.com on my iPhone. I was in luck! I placed my order, and paid way too much money to have it delivered the next day. Now all I had left to do was clean the house from top to bottom, removing all dog hairs (because she is allergic, of course!) before they arrived the next afternoon.
The first evening went pleasantly well. I cooked my in-laws' favorite meal of red beans and rice for dinner. As I was showing them to their room, I pointed out the Egyptian cotton sheets and mentioned that I had found the Atlanta coffee. "Oh, that's just nonsense. You didn't need to do that," my husband's mother said. I wanted to scream! I wanted to print out the email she had sent me that listed these things, crumple it up, and throw it in her face. But of course, I didn't. I politely smiled and said, "Anything to make you comfortable."
The next morning I woke up early to prepare the morning's coffee. To my surprise, someone had already made a pot. Not even a minute later, my husband's dad came downstairs, carrying an armful of the Egyptian cotton 420 thread count double needle hemmed sheets. "Can we get some new sheets?" he asked. "I spilled coffee on these." I knew at that point that I wouldn't be getting off of my gerbil wheel until after my in-laws returned to Atlanta.
Circle the one word that most appeals to you:
Alabama Banister Carousel Diesel Exorcist
Circle another word that appeals to you:
Flatulence Garage Harried Insensitive Jambalaya
Circle yet another word that you find appealing:
Keepsake Lamb Massage Nonsense Oriole
Use these three words in a story.
Start with: Sometimes I feel just like a gerbil, running around and around on his wheel!
My turn:
Sometimes I feel just like a gerbil, running around and around on his wheel! The in-laws are coming in to town from Atlanta tomorrow, and my goodness, it takes a lot to please them! First they require the bed sheets be Egyptian cotton 420 thread count double needle hemmed. Double needle hemmed! I don't even know what that means! But I rush out to Bed, Bath and Beyond and find just the set in a serene sky blue, hoping that the blue will subliminally calm them down. (I once read in Better Homes and Garden that to create a calm room, you are to paint the walls blue.)
The next order of business is how they take their coffee. I have to run around town looking for their specific coffee of choice (choice? Is it really a choice?): Atlanta Coffee Roasters premium blend. Except they didn't tell me it was specific to Atlanta. They claimed "Atlanta" was the founder's name. I can't believe I fell for that one. After many fruitless stops at grocery stores in my area, a kind clerk at the Piggly Wiggly commented on my harried behavior in the coffee aisle. After I explained my predicament, he gave me a tip: "Check shoffee.com. They carry more then 300 different coffees."
I rushed out of the store, yelling thanks to the clerk in my dust. Sitting in my near-its-death Volkswagen Rabbit, I quickly pulled up shoffee.com on my iPhone. I was in luck! I placed my order, and paid way too much money to have it delivered the next day. Now all I had left to do was clean the house from top to bottom, removing all dog hairs (because she is allergic, of course!) before they arrived the next afternoon.
The first evening went pleasantly well. I cooked my in-laws' favorite meal of red beans and rice for dinner. As I was showing them to their room, I pointed out the Egyptian cotton sheets and mentioned that I had found the Atlanta coffee. "Oh, that's just nonsense. You didn't need to do that," my husband's mother said. I wanted to scream! I wanted to print out the email she had sent me that listed these things, crumple it up, and throw it in her face. But of course, I didn't. I politely smiled and said, "Anything to make you comfortable."
The next morning I woke up early to prepare the morning's coffee. To my surprise, someone had already made a pot. Not even a minute later, my husband's dad came downstairs, carrying an armful of the Egyptian cotton 420 thread count double needle hemmed sheets. "Can we get some new sheets?" he asked. "I spilled coffee on these." I knew at that point that I wouldn't be getting off of my gerbil wheel until after my in-laws returned to Atlanta.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
I WILL write everyday for the next 366 days... starting Monday.
Remember that oh-so-naive sweet age of 22, when you pictured yourself at 30 and you're happily married to some hunk and have a career that is just what you've always dreamed of? Well, at age 28, the most successful relationship I've ever had is with my Jack Russell Terrier Lola, and my career, while successful, is not necessarily what I had pictured.
The marriage thing, well, that's a whole other issue, but the career thing I can control. I've always wanted to be a writer. I started that journey at a very young age, writing an entire newspaper (made-up stories, of course) and continuing that trend into high school where I had a monthly column in my school's paper. My junior year, I won the National Press Women's competition for column writing and had to travel to Nashville to speak at an event about what inspired my writing.
But then came college. At the University of Kansas, I enrolled in the Journalism school as a freshman. In my first real reporting class my sophomore year, my professor read one of my stories aloud to the class because she claimed it was the most well-written. When she set it on my desk, however, I saw a big red C- written across the top. A C-?!? I had never received a C-, let alone a C, in all of my years of schooling. I wondered, how could this be the best one, yet still be a C-? Well, according to my professor, it was because I didn't follow the rules. I hadn't used the inverted pyramid method - where all of the important information was at the top of the story, and the boring stuff at the bottom.
I understand that in newspaper reporting, you need to get all of the goods out there right away. Tell your reader what's important. I get that. But in my opinion, if I'm going to take the time to write something, I want my reader to get through all of my words. So I've always gone with the come-full-circle approach. Keep them wondering what is coming next.
Since my Journalism professors did not agree with my approach - and I was a stubborn college student - I changed my major to English. The verdict is still out on whether or not this was a smart decision.
After college, I found myself on the opposite side of the publishing industry than I wanted to be on. For the first couple of years, I was a publicist for a humor and gift book publisher. Then I moved on to be the Marketing Director of a publishing company that specialized in books for people with Autism. Currently, I am the Publisher of a company that publishes quilting books.
While I feel I have a good sense of humor, I enjoy giving (and receiving!) gifts, I am sympathetic towards those with disabilities, and I respect the art of quilting, none of these topics make me what to jump out of bed in the morning. I want to be writing novels and memoirs! Not producing, marketing and selling others' books!
Thus begins my journey. Each day for the next year (starting Monday!), I plan to do a different writing exercise from the book "The Write-Brain Workbook: 366 Exercises to Liberate Your Writing." (Do not ask me why it's 366 and not 365.) We'll see if I become liberated and write - excuse the cliche - the next great American novel.
I'm sure a lot of it will be a whole bunch of crap. But maybe, just maybe, my 237th post will land me a new career. And then, at that point, I can claim that I wasn't as naive at 22 as I had once thought - well, except for the hunky husband part, that is.
The marriage thing, well, that's a whole other issue, but the career thing I can control. I've always wanted to be a writer. I started that journey at a very young age, writing an entire newspaper (made-up stories, of course) and continuing that trend into high school where I had a monthly column in my school's paper. My junior year, I won the National Press Women's competition for column writing and had to travel to Nashville to speak at an event about what inspired my writing.
But then came college. At the University of Kansas, I enrolled in the Journalism school as a freshman. In my first real reporting class my sophomore year, my professor read one of my stories aloud to the class because she claimed it was the most well-written. When she set it on my desk, however, I saw a big red C- written across the top. A C-?!? I had never received a C-, let alone a C, in all of my years of schooling. I wondered, how could this be the best one, yet still be a C-? Well, according to my professor, it was because I didn't follow the rules. I hadn't used the inverted pyramid method - where all of the important information was at the top of the story, and the boring stuff at the bottom.
I understand that in newspaper reporting, you need to get all of the goods out there right away. Tell your reader what's important. I get that. But in my opinion, if I'm going to take the time to write something, I want my reader to get through all of my words. So I've always gone with the come-full-circle approach. Keep them wondering what is coming next.
Since my Journalism professors did not agree with my approach - and I was a stubborn college student - I changed my major to English. The verdict is still out on whether or not this was a smart decision.
After college, I found myself on the opposite side of the publishing industry than I wanted to be on. For the first couple of years, I was a publicist for a humor and gift book publisher. Then I moved on to be the Marketing Director of a publishing company that specialized in books for people with Autism. Currently, I am the Publisher of a company that publishes quilting books.
While I feel I have a good sense of humor, I enjoy giving (and receiving!) gifts, I am sympathetic towards those with disabilities, and I respect the art of quilting, none of these topics make me what to jump out of bed in the morning. I want to be writing novels and memoirs! Not producing, marketing and selling others' books!
Thus begins my journey. Each day for the next year (starting Monday!), I plan to do a different writing exercise from the book "The Write-Brain Workbook: 366 Exercises to Liberate Your Writing." (Do not ask me why it's 366 and not 365.) We'll see if I become liberated and write - excuse the cliche - the next great American novel.
I'm sure a lot of it will be a whole bunch of crap. But maybe, just maybe, my 237th post will land me a new career. And then, at that point, I can claim that I wasn't as naive at 22 as I had once thought - well, except for the hunky husband part, that is.
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