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| Jo Dasher, Charlotte Botsford Getz, Joyce Ann Underwood, and Sarah Bates - Deeples 2013. |
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Word Nerd Wednesday: She Has a Way with Words
Today I am recovering from my husband's vacation. In the meantime, won't you check out this great article written by my good friend and former critique group member Charlotte Botsford Getz?
Monday, September 28, 2015
Guest Post!
Hello there dear friends and gentle readers! I am vacationing in Not So Sunny Florida right now but I wanted to pop up and let you all know that I was published today on www.schanellis.com. You can check out my very interesting writing advice HERE!
Meanwhile, I am going to enjoy being in Florida, rain or no rain and I'll be back here in full force in October!
Meanwhile, I am going to enjoy being in Florida, rain or no rain and I'll be back here in full force in October!
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| This is what it looks like around my neck of the woods right about now. Photo from EatRunRepeat. |
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Out to Lunch Until October
I'm here to apologize for my absence. My husband has taken unexpected leave from his job and as such I have been spending time with him and our daughter. Expect to see me back here with regular posts in early October. Until then, I will strive to post some fun and inspiring things, but don't expect a meaty post until he's returned to work.
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Sunday News - Second Edition
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| So, I had an interesting weekend |
I currently have seven or eight pieces out in the ether, and two pieces that I am working on to submit before the end of the month. I finished and submitted one piece this morning. I am working hard, people.
I have been trying to keep up with the blog and with social media, but it's hard. I'm feeling a little burnt out already. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep up this seven days a week pace. I must admit, it is doing wonders for my work ethic. I miss First Person Narrative though. I need to get back to doing more personal blogging. I was reading through my old Live Journal this morning. I really miss that sort of thing. I am an eternal 12 year old.
I had a really great weekend wherein I went to the Fayetteville Greek Festival and the Fayetteville Botanical Gardens. The Greek festival was so much fun even if the weather was lousy. I'm not complaining. I had a chicken pitas and dolmathes and baklava. I was happy. Thankfully, the weather was GORGEOUS today at the gardens. We will definitely be going back.
I'm one third of the way through On Writing. I'm taking my time and really enjoying it. When I'm finally done reading it, I'll be writing a review for Goodreads, so keep an eye out for that. Speaking of social media (again), I hope you're checking out my Pinterst and Instagram pages. Lots of cool stuff over there.
That's about it for now. See you all tomorrow!
Saturday, September 12, 2015
Friday, September 11, 2015
Fan Girl Friday: Week in Review
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| The sexiness. |
On Monday, I finished watching Season 3 of Hannibal. It was perfectly well written and gorgeously shot. If you haven't been watching Hannibal then I just don't know what you've been doing with your life. You need to get right and start watching. It's transcendent I tell you. What's more, you can feel all sorts of literary because it's based on a book series. Although if we're being honest Hannibal diverges from the source material pretty quickly.
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| Contains an amusing anecdote about poison ivy. Highly recommend. |
On Tuesday, I continued reading Stephen King's On Writing. I love Stephen King and I really must read more of his work. Dolores Claiborne is the only one of his novels I've read, but I've read several of his short stories. He's such a good writer. I would love to have both his talent and his success. The most important thing I've learned from On Writing thus far is the more you write and the more you submit, the better chance you have of finding success. This goes back to what Charlotte says: "She who succeeds is she who submits."
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| In short, I wish my boobs looked like hers. Covered in stars. |
On Wednesday, I found Beyond Your Blog, a site that helps bloggers get published in places other than their own blogs. This place is a wealth of resources. Now I'm writing an essay about my boobs and working on coming up with an empowering short story for adolescent girls. Meanwhile, I'm also working on revising some of my older writing for submission. I'm super thrilled about having a reason to start some new projects though. Thanks, Beyond Your Blog!
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| They kinda match even. (I'm reaching.) |
On Thursday, I had a really good day. I received both my Jams and my Duran Duran Paper Gods pre-order. Why are the Jams important? Because they have stars on them, and we are all striving to Write Like a Rock Star! :-) As for the Duran Duran, I am so thrilled to finally have it in my hot little hands. Simon Lebon is such a good lyricist. Rest assured, there will be many Fan Girl Fridays in the coming months that will taut this fact. For now, I will just say that the title track is my favorite song on the album and you should listen to it.
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| Stoked. |
Today, I am going to enjoy my nails, listen to my new album, and get ready for a full weekend. Tomorrow is the Walk to End Alzheimer's and the Fayetteville Greek Festival. Exciting stuff. So today, I need to finish my essay on boobs so I can start revising on Monday. I'm probably also going to get a haircut. It's time.
What are you a fan of this week? Let me know in the comments!
Thursday, September 10, 2015
#ThrowBackThursday - The Lassie Reckons Herself a Poet!
It's #ThrowBackThursday! Today we have a photo and a poem from around 2004/2005. The picture is fun, but the poem is just bad. Amazing how much one can improve one's poetry over the course of a decade. That said, my poetry still isn't very good.
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| Prune Juice. Yum. |
Retirement
Came to life this morning and I thought I'd die
I shoulda just stayed in bed
I never shoulda gone outside
This ordinary life is such a drag
Ordinary people
Ordinary job
Ordinary food
Ordinary dog (have you seen her? Simple might be more like it!)
But I'm looking forward to the ordinary world
If I keep on keepin on
One day I'll make it there
All sunsets and palm trees
The wind in my hair
The sand at my feet
In my hand a fruity drink
Pink flamingos everywhere
A lounge chair and Jimmy Buffett
One more drink and I won't care
One day I'll live in peace
I'll retire to the sun
From an ordinary life
To an ordinary world
A beach full of the ones who made it
A God, I know I'm one.
And as I make my way
I will survive.
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Word Nerd Wednesday: Agency
It's Word Nerd Wednesday! This week's word is:
AGENCY
verb: the capacity of an entity to act in a given environment.
"Hamlet had agency; had he used his agency he might not have ended up dead."
I first heard this word in college and I had no idea what my professor was talking about. Since then, it has become one of my all time favorite words. Sadly, no one seems to know what it means. I'm here to change that!
AGENCY
verb: the capacity of an entity to act in a given environment.
"Hamlet had agency; had he used his agency he might not have ended up dead."
I first heard this word in college and I had no idea what my professor was talking about. Since then, it has become one of my all time favorite words. Sadly, no one seems to know what it means. I'm here to change that!
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Tuesday Throwdown #2
It's time for Tuesday Throw-Down! I give you a prompt and we all free-write about it for 250 to 500 words. If you want, you can leave your free-write in the comments and on Thursday I will post the best ones of the lot. There might even be prizes involved. Sounds fun, right? When you're finished, please leave your word count at the bottom of the post in parenthesis. Thanks!
What are you most afraid of? Have you ever faced your fear head on? Was it liberating or terrifying? Write about facing your fear head on.
Spiders at Petco.
I thought I could do it. I mean, I really thought I could do it. I thought I could calmly - professionally - reach my hand into the cage and pluck out a tarantula with a net. It wasn't normally my job, but I was working the reptile section that day, and wouldn't you know - someone came in wanting to buy a spider. It was the only animal in the entire store I had a problem with. I told them as much in my interview. I would, under no circumstances be handling a spider. But sometimes you have to do that which must be done. I had been working at the Petco for a few months now though, and I thought I had grown brave. The spiders were harmless, weren't they? I hadn't seen them attack any of my co-workers and suck out their juices leaving them dry, exsanguinated corpses. It would be fine. I would get the spider out of the cage and sell it to the customer like the grown up I was supposed to be. This plan was great in theory. In practice, not so much. Maybe if the spider had been still? He was not still though - he lunged at me when I stuck the net into the cage. Lunged. At. Me. I screamed and jumped back. My heart was pounding and my breathing was quick and shallow. I wanted to cry, but you can't just cry in front of a customer - it's bad for business. Instead, I made an excuse and went off to find someone, anyone who could capture the horrible little beast. Then, I went to the break room and cried.
(281 words)
Now it's your turn! Respond to the prompt in the comments. The best piece will be featured on Thursday. Good luck!
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| Well, are you? |
The prompt for September 8, 2015 is:
What are you most afraid of? Have you ever faced your fear head on? Was it liberating or terrifying? Write about facing your fear head on.
Spiders at Petco.
I thought I could do it. I mean, I really thought I could do it. I thought I could calmly - professionally - reach my hand into the cage and pluck out a tarantula with a net. It wasn't normally my job, but I was working the reptile section that day, and wouldn't you know - someone came in wanting to buy a spider. It was the only animal in the entire store I had a problem with. I told them as much in my interview. I would, under no circumstances be handling a spider. But sometimes you have to do that which must be done. I had been working at the Petco for a few months now though, and I thought I had grown brave. The spiders were harmless, weren't they? I hadn't seen them attack any of my co-workers and suck out their juices leaving them dry, exsanguinated corpses. It would be fine. I would get the spider out of the cage and sell it to the customer like the grown up I was supposed to be. This plan was great in theory. In practice, not so much. Maybe if the spider had been still? He was not still though - he lunged at me when I stuck the net into the cage. Lunged. At. Me. I screamed and jumped back. My heart was pounding and my breathing was quick and shallow. I wanted to cry, but you can't just cry in front of a customer - it's bad for business. Instead, I made an excuse and went off to find someone, anyone who could capture the horrible little beast. Then, I went to the break room and cried.
(281 words)
Now it's your turn! Respond to the prompt in the comments. The best piece will be featured on Thursday. Good luck!
Monday, September 7, 2015
English Major Mondays: Bob Dylan "Shelter from the Storm"
Happy Labor Day!
Today is English Major Monday wherein I take a critical look at something that is not traditionally considered to be literature. Every Monday this month we are going to be talking about a different Bob Dylan song in honor of the birthday of a great man who fostered in me a love of Bob Dylan: Jon Smith. He would have been 64 on Saturday and even though you probably didn't know him, I promise you that the world is just a little less awesome without him in it. Jon, thank you for briefly being one of my shelters from the storm. You are greatly missed.
*Please note, this is my first attempt and it's a little rough around the edges. I am very out of practice, but I expect these to improve with time. Thanks for your patience and support!
Today's song is "Shelter From the Storm" from the album Blood on the Tracks. This is probably my favorite Dylan song, which is why it's the first one I'm going to talk about. While I was first introduced to this song on the Jerry McGuire Soundtrack when I was about 10, I have since become a fan of the live version from Fort Collins, CO recorded in 1976 despite the fact that it is missing two whole verses. What is the significance of this omission? Was it merely an issue of time or did Dylan rethink the meaning of the song and find these two verses to be unnecessary? At any rate, the live version is more rock and roll than the album version. I like my Bob Dylan on electric guitar. It makes me feel things I don't often feel: attracted to Bob Dylan.
As to the meaning of the song there is some confusion among fans and scholars. Some argue that the lyrics are blatantly religious - a precursor to what would later be seen as Dylan's conversion to Christianity. In this theory, the singer is none other than Christ himself, as implied in the lyrics "In a little hilltop village they gambled for my clothes". Others believe the song to be no more than a simple exploration of grace as represented by the woman described in the song. Still others have taken a much more literal interpretation and they see the song as Dylan working through his pending divorce from his then wife Sarah Dylan. This theory posits that Dylan saw his wife as the shelter whom he took for granted and subsequently lost.
But what of me? I have no great ideas about the ultimate meaning of the song - it doesn't need to have a definitive meaning. Aren't the metaphors, if read/heard as such beautiful enough on their own? For example, I don't think that the singer/speaker is actually Christ, but rather he feels like Christ in that he was betrayed by the people he was supposed to be most akin to. By that point in the song, he is feeling like a martyr. The images are stunning.
Make no mistake - Dylan is one of the great American poets of the 20th Century. If one were to read the lyrics of "Shelter from the Storm" with no knowledge that it is a song, one might think that they are reading a poem with a repetitive refrain. This technique is used to emphasize a certain point or idea in poetry as well as to lend a certain obsessive quality to a poem. This is why villanelles are particularly useful when one is trying to convey a certain amount of obsession or anxiety.
We see that the speaker in the song is afraid of the storm which is a metaphor for the trials and tribulations of life itself. He is grateful to "her" for offering him again and again "shelter" from it. This woman, through her words and actions becomes the speaker's sanctuary, causing the loss of her to be all the more devastating at the end of the song. He took her kindness for granted and found himself in the midst of the storm without any shelter - "in a foreign country" of loneliness, "hopeless and forlorn." This conjures quite a bleak image of our speaker. For the first time the speaker must face life alone.
By reading "Shelter from the Storm" as a poem, we writers can learn how repetition can be used to good effect as well as how to employ great metaphors. Whether or not Dylan was actually talking about Christ, we can use his example as a springboard for using religious imagery and metaphor in our own work. We are clever enough to realize that "She" was not sheltering the speaker from a literal storm, but a figurative one. Not only does the repetition of the image belie the speaker's anxiety, it also creates a poem where the metaphor is extended throughout. The speaker keeps returning to the idea of needing "shelter from the storm." This is how a good writer creates and sustains an extended metaphor.
So what? Why is any of this important? What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
Today is English Major Monday wherein I take a critical look at something that is not traditionally considered to be literature. Every Monday this month we are going to be talking about a different Bob Dylan song in honor of the birthday of a great man who fostered in me a love of Bob Dylan: Jon Smith. He would have been 64 on Saturday and even though you probably didn't know him, I promise you that the world is just a little less awesome without him in it. Jon, thank you for briefly being one of my shelters from the storm. You are greatly missed.
*Please note, this is my first attempt and it's a little rough around the edges. I am very out of practice, but I expect these to improve with time. Thanks for your patience and support!
Today's song is "Shelter From the Storm" from the album Blood on the Tracks. This is probably my favorite Dylan song, which is why it's the first one I'm going to talk about. While I was first introduced to this song on the Jerry McGuire Soundtrack when I was about 10, I have since become a fan of the live version from Fort Collins, CO recorded in 1976 despite the fact that it is missing two whole verses. What is the significance of this omission? Was it merely an issue of time or did Dylan rethink the meaning of the song and find these two verses to be unnecessary? At any rate, the live version is more rock and roll than the album version. I like my Bob Dylan on electric guitar. It makes me feel things I don't often feel: attracted to Bob Dylan.
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| Bobby, I'll give you shelter anytime. Anytime. |
As to the meaning of the song there is some confusion among fans and scholars. Some argue that the lyrics are blatantly religious - a precursor to what would later be seen as Dylan's conversion to Christianity. In this theory, the singer is none other than Christ himself, as implied in the lyrics "In a little hilltop village they gambled for my clothes". Others believe the song to be no more than a simple exploration of grace as represented by the woman described in the song. Still others have taken a much more literal interpretation and they see the song as Dylan working through his pending divorce from his then wife Sarah Dylan. This theory posits that Dylan saw his wife as the shelter whom he took for granted and subsequently lost.
But what of me? I have no great ideas about the ultimate meaning of the song - it doesn't need to have a definitive meaning. Aren't the metaphors, if read/heard as such beautiful enough on their own? For example, I don't think that the singer/speaker is actually Christ, but rather he feels like Christ in that he was betrayed by the people he was supposed to be most akin to. By that point in the song, he is feeling like a martyr. The images are stunning.
Make no mistake - Dylan is one of the great American poets of the 20th Century. If one were to read the lyrics of "Shelter from the Storm" with no knowledge that it is a song, one might think that they are reading a poem with a repetitive refrain. This technique is used to emphasize a certain point or idea in poetry as well as to lend a certain obsessive quality to a poem. This is why villanelles are particularly useful when one is trying to convey a certain amount of obsession or anxiety.
We see that the speaker in the song is afraid of the storm which is a metaphor for the trials and tribulations of life itself. He is grateful to "her" for offering him again and again "shelter" from it. This woman, through her words and actions becomes the speaker's sanctuary, causing the loss of her to be all the more devastating at the end of the song. He took her kindness for granted and found himself in the midst of the storm without any shelter - "in a foreign country" of loneliness, "hopeless and forlorn." This conjures quite a bleak image of our speaker. For the first time the speaker must face life alone.
By reading "Shelter from the Storm" as a poem, we writers can learn how repetition can be used to good effect as well as how to employ great metaphors. Whether or not Dylan was actually talking about Christ, we can use his example as a springboard for using religious imagery and metaphor in our own work. We are clever enough to realize that "She" was not sheltering the speaker from a literal storm, but a figurative one. Not only does the repetition of the image belie the speaker's anxiety, it also creates a poem where the metaphor is extended throughout. The speaker keeps returning to the idea of needing "shelter from the storm." This is how a good writer creates and sustains an extended metaphor.
So what? Why is any of this important? What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Sunday News - First Edition
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| Charlotte is a wise woman. |
I found out yesterday that an excerpt from one of my nonfiction essays has been selected to be read at the Southern Writers Symposium. I'm kind of excited about this. (I'm not excited about the $45 I have to shell out for the privilege though.) I am still waiting to hear about possible publication of the entire piece. Fingers crossed! In the meantime, I am revising and submitting several other pieces because what Charlotte said is the gospel truth.
In other news, I started reading Stephen King's On Writing yesterday. So far I am really enjoying it. I hope to write a review of it for Goodreads in the near future. This review will, of course, be promoted and cross posted here.
As for fun, I spent a few hours last night catching up on the last few episodes of Hannibal. It was so good. I am terribly disappointed that when I reach the end of the season I will have reached the end of the series as well. The man playing Francis Dolarhyde is perfect, and of course all the regulars are as well. What a sad thing that the series was cancelled. This is what happens when you try to sell art to the mainstream, I guess. Hopefully the show will eventually find a new home and continue on. I need Mads Mikkelson in my life.
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Friday, September 4, 2015
Fan Girl Friday: Christian Slater's Top 5
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| Are you ready? |
You learned yesterday that I was once in love with Christian Slater. My love has not died over the years, it has merely changed. I don't wish to marry him anymore, but I do love his body of work. Christian Slater is an incredibly underrated actor. The problem is not with his acting - it's with the quality of the scripts he works with. But there are some gems amongst his body of work and because I feel the need to make a case for his acting talent we are going to discuss his most well written movies on this,
Fan Girl Friday!
The first film I would like to discuss is He Was a Quiet Man. Why this film is not more well known is beyond me. At the risk of sounding like James Lipton, I'm going to say that I think it's resplendent. It's about a man who works in an office where he gets no respect. He is a cog in the machine and the only time he ever gets any notice at all from his co-workers is when he does something wrong. Slater's character is shown to be somewhat mentally unstable as he fantasizes about shooting everyone in his office. One day, he decides to actually do it, and that's when the real story begins. Imagine if Milton from Office Space had decided to go postal. The film is dark, but not without humor, and hands down the best film Christian Slater has ever made.
The Name of the Rose
Next on my list is The Name of the Rose. One of Christian Slater's first roles, he stars as a Franciscan friar opposite Sean Connery in this film adaptation of Umberto Eco's debut novel of the same name. I might favor this movie simply because there's a really great sex scene, but I don't think so. Because it's based on Eco's intellectual 14th century murder mystery The Name of the Rose is an engaging and thoroughly well written film. Slater and Connery work to uncover the origin of a string of murders in a Benedictine monastery in the midst of a theological disputation on the subversive power of laughter. I know it sounds dry, but I promise, it's really good!
Murder in the First
I love this movie so much. In Murder in the First, Christian Slater stars as James Stamphill, the public defender assigned to Henri Young an inmate at Alcatraz who murdered another inmate with a spoon. Everyone believes the case to be open and shut, but as Stamphill speaks to Henri Young he realizes tha the murderer is also a victim of an unjust penal system. He works to achieve justice for Young and the two form an unlikely friendship. Gary Oldman plays the bad guy, and I am not kidding when I tell you that if you haven't seen this film, you must. It is severely underrated.
Basil
Basil is an adaptation of a Victorian novel of the same name. I cannot speak to the quality of the novel, but I feel that the film is just lovely. The story concerns Basil an young aristocrat who is at odds with his high upbringing. The plot is entirely too complicated to sum up here, so I won't even try. Slater plays a tragic antagonist and nails it. Radha Bharadwaj both wrote and directed the film and she did so with poise, grace, and style. The end result is stunning.
Crossing the Line
Christian Slater narrates this documentary about a U.S. Army soldier who defected to North Korea in 1962. Why would a good, red blooded American defect to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea? The writer takes time to focus not only on the defector's story, but also on the lives of several Koreans. The end result is nothing less than fascinating.
Some other really well written and arguably better known Christian Slater films are: Heathers, Pump Up the Volume, Interview with the Vampire, True Romance, and Very Bad Things. If you aren't familiar with any of the movies discussed today, you really should be.
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| Christian is brooding because he knows you haven't seen any of his movies. For shame. |
Thursday, September 3, 2015
#ThrowBackThursday: Christian Slater Edition
Happy Throw Back Thursday!
Today I share with you all not only one of my old pictures, but also an old story I wrote in the 6th Grade. Some of the women in my writing group used to marvel at the way that I could capture the 12 year old voice in my writing. I was able to do this for two reasons:
1) I never got rid of anything I wrote from about age 9 until now. As soon as I realized that I wanted to be a writer I started preserving everything I wrote in case it might be useful later. Therefore, I have preserved my younger voice on paper. I also kept every letter that was ever passed to me in school, so I also have a lot of other voices that I can work with.
2) My inner 12 year old is still very much alive and well in my heart.
The following story (it was supposed to be an essay, but I took some serious liberties) is about what I thought I would be doing 5 years from the time of composition. It makes me laugh, just how unacquainted with that which we call reality I used to be. I still love Christian Slater, and I still wish I were rich and quasi-famous, but I think it worked out for the best that I didn't drag him off to Crescent City to get married when I was 17.
When I was a little girl I had a dream. My dream was that when I grew up I would meet and possibly marry Christian Slater.
I fell in love with Christian after I saw Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves on TV for the Easter special. Easter is a Christian (excuse the pun!) holiday, so I suppose it was in the eyes of the Lord that I fall in love. After I saw Robin Hood I became infatuated with Christian. I didn’t see many of his movies, but the ones I did see I saw over and over and over and over and over.
After I for my driver’s license my friends Heather and George decided to take a summer vacation to L.A. George and I drove most of the way because back then Heather seemed to be possessed by Evel Knievel.
After driving for 48 straight we got to L.A. The only thing I could think about when we got there was the song “Under the Bridge” by The Red Hot Chili Peppers. When was a little girl, I used to hear that song on the radio and think of Christian. The part that said “The city I live in, the city of Angels, lonely as I am, together we cry,” seemed like Christian wrote it. He had two weaknesses. Women and drink. Every time he got drunk, a girl would dump him.
We went to all of the great places in L.A. and Hollywood. We went to Universal, The Chinese Theater, the Walk of Fame, and of course, The Hard Rock Café.
After being in L.A. for a week, we decided to just browse the shops because of course most of the stores in L.A. were so expensive that even if we put all of our money together we wouldn’t have enough money to buy anything.
On our second day of browsing we were leaving a Versace store and walking back to our hotel. We were talking and I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going and ran right into the finest man I had ever seen. I knew at once who it was.
“Oh no!” I said. “I am so sorry that I ran into you! My name is Joyce and this is George and Heather.”
“Hello,” he said. “My name is Christian.”
“I’m sorry I ran into you.”
“Oh, it’s quite alright.”
“May we invite you for a cup of coffee?”
We went for coffee at some Italian café. Might I add that the cappuccino was excellent! But, back to the story. When we were done with our coffee. I knew a lot about Christian and he knew a lot about me. The real shock was when he was about to leave and he asked me out on a date. George and Heather were so shocked! Of course, I accepted. I gave him my hotel address and we left. I had to meet him in the lobby of our hotel at 6:00! Heather did my hair and George had my dress dry-cleaned. I was so nervous!
When he picked me up he took me out for a night on the town. He was so sweet and we had so much fun, I felt just like Cinderella. We went on dates like this just about every day. Sometimes George and Heather doubled with us.
Those two weeks went by so fast. But one day we realized we had to go back to little ol’ Crescent City, Florida. It pained me to tell Christian the news. When I told him he didn’t seem fazed. I asked him if he was alright and all her said was “I’m going with you.” I didn’t want him to have to live in Crescent City. But he said he wouldn’t mind living in a small town. You know, getting away from the hustle and bustle of L.A. and all. So I agreed.
Going back home wasn’t the least bit boring. Christian and I had a lot to talk about. George and Heather took turns driving my car and Christian and I drove his car. We all decided that before we went home we ought to go to Mexico for a week. That way we could figure out how to get Christian into Crescent City without the whole population of Southern Putnam County finding out. Gossip is a popular pastime around Crescent City, as George, Heather and I well knew.
So we went to Mexico and had a vacation in a vacation so to speak. We didn’t just scheme while we were in Mexico. Oh, no. We visited Mexico City and the Aztec Ruins. I really wanted to see Tepeyac hill, where Juan Diego saw The Virgin of Gaudeloupe in that one episode of Wishbone.
We did figure out a plan though. Our plan was not to take Christian into Putnam County, but to take him to my cousins Lisa and Brad who live in Seville. Seville is only about ten miles out of Crescent City so it wouldn’t cost too much on gas to go see him every day. He would only have to stay there until we could find him an apartment or something in Crescent City.
Before we left Mexico we called Lisa and Brad to make sure our plan was O.K. It was, of course. Brad and Lisa are so nice, I doubt they would have turned me down if Christian was in the drug cartel. Thank God he’s not! I hope!
After that we were back on the road headed for Crescent City. The drive took us about a day and a half. It would have taken us less if we hadn’t turned the wrong way on a turnpike. We went the wrong way on I4 and wound up in Orlando.
But, finally after a lot more than a month, we dropped Christian off at Brad and Lisa’s and we got home to Crescent City. I didn’t tell mom about Christian because I was afraid she wouldn’t like him. I went to see Christian every day after I got back.
That was hard to pull off with school and band practice but sometimes he would come and watch me at band practice.
After we had been going out for over a year I graduated. I moved out of my mom’s house and moved in with Christian. I lived with Christian and went to college. Christian had to find work. Christian found work but it required a car so I had to get a vehicle of some sort. My dream car was always a white convertible Jeep. Christian knew this and somehow for Christmas, Christian got me one.
So, what did you think? Do you have any writing you could share for #TBT? Let me know in the comments or on Facebook!
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| 14 year old me with a baby Simon Cat. |
Today I share with you all not only one of my old pictures, but also an old story I wrote in the 6th Grade. Some of the women in my writing group used to marvel at the way that I could capture the 12 year old voice in my writing. I was able to do this for two reasons:
1) I never got rid of anything I wrote from about age 9 until now. As soon as I realized that I wanted to be a writer I started preserving everything I wrote in case it might be useful later. Therefore, I have preserved my younger voice on paper. I also kept every letter that was ever passed to me in school, so I also have a lot of other voices that I can work with.
2) My inner 12 year old is still very much alive and well in my heart.
The following story (it was supposed to be an essay, but I took some serious liberties) is about what I thought I would be doing 5 years from the time of composition. It makes me laugh, just how unacquainted with that which we call reality I used to be. I still love Christian Slater, and I still wish I were rich and quasi-famous, but I think it worked out for the best that I didn't drag him off to Crescent City to get married when I was 17.
Christian Slater
When I was a little girl I had a dream. My dream was that when I grew up I would meet and possibly marry Christian Slater.
I fell in love with Christian after I saw Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves on TV for the Easter special. Easter is a Christian (excuse the pun!) holiday, so I suppose it was in the eyes of the Lord that I fall in love. After I saw Robin Hood I became infatuated with Christian. I didn’t see many of his movies, but the ones I did see I saw over and over and over and over and over.
After I for my driver’s license my friends Heather and George decided to take a summer vacation to L.A. George and I drove most of the way because back then Heather seemed to be possessed by Evel Knievel.
After driving for 48 straight we got to L.A. The only thing I could think about when we got there was the song “Under the Bridge” by The Red Hot Chili Peppers. When was a little girl, I used to hear that song on the radio and think of Christian. The part that said “The city I live in, the city of Angels, lonely as I am, together we cry,” seemed like Christian wrote it. He had two weaknesses. Women and drink. Every time he got drunk, a girl would dump him.
We went to all of the great places in L.A. and Hollywood. We went to Universal, The Chinese Theater, the Walk of Fame, and of course, The Hard Rock Café.
After being in L.A. for a week, we decided to just browse the shops because of course most of the stores in L.A. were so expensive that even if we put all of our money together we wouldn’t have enough money to buy anything.
On our second day of browsing we were leaving a Versace store and walking back to our hotel. We were talking and I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going and ran right into the finest man I had ever seen. I knew at once who it was.
“Oh no!” I said. “I am so sorry that I ran into you! My name is Joyce and this is George and Heather.”
“Hello,” he said. “My name is Christian.”
“I’m sorry I ran into you.”
“Oh, it’s quite alright.”
“May we invite you for a cup of coffee?”
We went for coffee at some Italian café. Might I add that the cappuccino was excellent! But, back to the story. When we were done with our coffee. I knew a lot about Christian and he knew a lot about me. The real shock was when he was about to leave and he asked me out on a date. George and Heather were so shocked! Of course, I accepted. I gave him my hotel address and we left. I had to meet him in the lobby of our hotel at 6:00! Heather did my hair and George had my dress dry-cleaned. I was so nervous!
When he picked me up he took me out for a night on the town. He was so sweet and we had so much fun, I felt just like Cinderella. We went on dates like this just about every day. Sometimes George and Heather doubled with us.
Those two weeks went by so fast. But one day we realized we had to go back to little ol’ Crescent City, Florida. It pained me to tell Christian the news. When I told him he didn’t seem fazed. I asked him if he was alright and all her said was “I’m going with you.” I didn’t want him to have to live in Crescent City. But he said he wouldn’t mind living in a small town. You know, getting away from the hustle and bustle of L.A. and all. So I agreed.
Going back home wasn’t the least bit boring. Christian and I had a lot to talk about. George and Heather took turns driving my car and Christian and I drove his car. We all decided that before we went home we ought to go to Mexico for a week. That way we could figure out how to get Christian into Crescent City without the whole population of Southern Putnam County finding out. Gossip is a popular pastime around Crescent City, as George, Heather and I well knew.
So we went to Mexico and had a vacation in a vacation so to speak. We didn’t just scheme while we were in Mexico. Oh, no. We visited Mexico City and the Aztec Ruins. I really wanted to see Tepeyac hill, where Juan Diego saw The Virgin of Gaudeloupe in that one episode of Wishbone.
We did figure out a plan though. Our plan was not to take Christian into Putnam County, but to take him to my cousins Lisa and Brad who live in Seville. Seville is only about ten miles out of Crescent City so it wouldn’t cost too much on gas to go see him every day. He would only have to stay there until we could find him an apartment or something in Crescent City.
Before we left Mexico we called Lisa and Brad to make sure our plan was O.K. It was, of course. Brad and Lisa are so nice, I doubt they would have turned me down if Christian was in the drug cartel. Thank God he’s not! I hope!
After that we were back on the road headed for Crescent City. The drive took us about a day and a half. It would have taken us less if we hadn’t turned the wrong way on a turnpike. We went the wrong way on I4 and wound up in Orlando.
But, finally after a lot more than a month, we dropped Christian off at Brad and Lisa’s and we got home to Crescent City. I didn’t tell mom about Christian because I was afraid she wouldn’t like him. I went to see Christian every day after I got back.
That was hard to pull off with school and band practice but sometimes he would come and watch me at band practice.
After we had been going out for over a year I graduated. I moved out of my mom’s house and moved in with Christian. I lived with Christian and went to college. Christian had to find work. Christian found work but it required a car so I had to get a vehicle of some sort. My dream car was always a white convertible Jeep. Christian knew this and somehow for Christmas, Christian got me one.
So, what did you think? Do you have any writing you could share for #TBT? Let me know in the comments or on Facebook!
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Word Nerd Wednesday: Grift
It's Word Nerd Wednesday! This week's word is:
GRIFT
verb: to engage in petty swindling
noun: a petty swindle
'
"Hey, you kid! Stop trying to grift for food! I've already told you, No ice-cream."
The first time I remember hearing the word "grift" was in a song from the Hedwig and the Angry Inch soundtrack called "The Long Grift." Through context alone, I was able to discern the meaning of the word and incorporate it correctly into my vocabulary. Apparently, this word is not a common one though, as the following video will serve to illustrate:
"The Long Grift"
Look what you've done,you gigalo
You know that I love you, hon
And I didn't wanna know
That your cool, seductive serenade
Was just a tool of your trade, you gigalo
Of all the riches you've surveyed
And all that you can lift
I'm just another dollar that you've made
In your long, long grift
Look what you've done, you gigalo
Another hustle has been run
And now you oughta know
That this fool can no longer be swayed
By the tools of your trade, you gigalo
I'm just another John you've gypped
Another sucker stiffed
A walk on role in the script
Of your long, long grift
The love that had me in your grip
Was just a long, long grift
GRIFT
verb: to engage in petty swindling
noun: a petty swindle
'
"Hey, you kid! Stop trying to grift for food! I've already told you, No ice-cream."
The first time I remember hearing the word "grift" was in a song from the Hedwig and the Angry Inch soundtrack called "The Long Grift." Through context alone, I was able to discern the meaning of the word and incorporate it correctly into my vocabulary. Apparently, this word is not a common one though, as the following video will serve to illustrate:
"The Long Grift"
Look what you've done,you gigalo
You know that I love you, hon
And I didn't wanna know
That your cool, seductive serenade
Was just a tool of your trade, you gigalo
Of all the riches you've surveyed
And all that you can lift
I'm just another dollar that you've made
In your long, long grift
Look what you've done, you gigalo
Another hustle has been run
And now you oughta know
That this fool can no longer be swayed
By the tools of your trade, you gigalo
I'm just another John you've gypped
Another sucker stiffed
A walk on role in the script
Of your long, long grift
The love that had me in your grip
Was just a long, long grift
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Tuesday Throw-Down #1
Hi! Welcome to my blog! I hope you stick around. I have all sorts of literary fun planned for this space and I can't wait to get started. It's Tuesday, and I'm going to hit the ground running with the first Tuesday Throw-Down.
I'm so glad you asked.
A Tuesday Throw-Down is where I give you a prompt and we all free-write about it for 250 to 500 words. If you want, you can leave your free-write in the comments and on Thursday I will post the best ones of the lot. There might even be prizes involved. Sounds fun, right? When you're finished, please leave your word count at the bottom of the post in parenthesis. Thanks!
Write about the first time you did something new: Tried a new food, started a new job, got a new hairstyle. Use your imagination and tell us about how you experience the feeling of "new."
Since I don't want you to feel alone, here's my answer:
I was at UWF's annual Midnight Breakfast, an event held the week of finals to boost student morale. Studying can be hard work, especially if you are pulling all nighters to write papers and cram every bit of knowledge you can into your cranium. The Midnight Breakfast allows the students to cut loose a little, wear their PJs to the dining hall, and eat some tasty, tasty breakfast food in the middle of the night.
I was an RA at the time, so the event was not all fun and games for me as I had to work while I was there. Usually this consisted of cleaning off tables or counting heads as they came through the door, so it wasn't as though it were strenuous work. As I was cleaning off a table, I saw a UWF Housing worker putting ketchup on an omelet.
"That looks disgusting," I said as I moved around him. He and the people he was sitting with exclaimed, "Oh no! It's the bomb. Have you tried it?"
"Well, no." I said.
"Here, have a a bite." said the man with the ketchuppy omelet. I wrinkled my nose and had a bite.
I was like the little guy in "Green Eggs and Ham" at that moment.
"Say, this is good." The flavors exploded in my mouth. The tangy ketchup melded perfectly with the savory egg, ham, and cheese. I couldn't believe it. I apologized to my co-worker and went to get my own omelet. I was a convert.
(253 words)
"What is a Tuesday Throw-Down?"
I'm so glad you asked.
A Tuesday Throw-Down is where I give you a prompt and we all free-write about it for 250 to 500 words. If you want, you can leave your free-write in the comments and on Thursday I will post the best ones of the lot. There might even be prizes involved. Sounds fun, right? When you're finished, please leave your word count at the bottom of the post in parenthesis. Thanks!
 |
| Are you ready? |
The prompt for September 1, 2015 is:
Write about the first time you did something new: Tried a new food, started a new job, got a new hairstyle. Use your imagination and tell us about how you experience the feeling of "new."
Since I don't want you to feel alone, here's my answer:
I was at UWF's annual Midnight Breakfast, an event held the week of finals to boost student morale. Studying can be hard work, especially if you are pulling all nighters to write papers and cram every bit of knowledge you can into your cranium. The Midnight Breakfast allows the students to cut loose a little, wear their PJs to the dining hall, and eat some tasty, tasty breakfast food in the middle of the night.
I was an RA at the time, so the event was not all fun and games for me as I had to work while I was there. Usually this consisted of cleaning off tables or counting heads as they came through the door, so it wasn't as though it were strenuous work. As I was cleaning off a table, I saw a UWF Housing worker putting ketchup on an omelet.
"That looks disgusting," I said as I moved around him. He and the people he was sitting with exclaimed, "Oh no! It's the bomb. Have you tried it?"
"Well, no." I said.
"Here, have a a bite." said the man with the ketchuppy omelet. I wrinkled my nose and had a bite.
I was like the little guy in "Green Eggs and Ham" at that moment.
"Say, this is good." The flavors exploded in my mouth. The tangy ketchup melded perfectly with the savory egg, ham, and cheese. I couldn't believe it. I apologized to my co-worker and went to get my own omelet. I was a convert.
(253 words)
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