Day begins again,
touched by fog and memories,
refracted by sun.
Haiku to you Thursday: “Refraction”
Day begins again,
touched by fog and memories,
refracted by sun.
Filed under Haiku to You Thursday, poetry by author
Writing tip Wednesday: Some tools you may need
On her website (http://www.jenniferweiner.com), the author Jennifer Weiner has a list of advice if you want to be a novelist.
Weiner is the author of the novels The Next Best Thing, Then Came You, Fly Away Home, and others.
For books about writing to read, she writes “run, do not walk, to your local bookshop and buy Stephen King’s On Writing and Anne Lamott’s utterly indispensable Bird by Bird, and Eudora Welty’s One Writer’s Beginnings and Ursula LeGuin’s Steering the Craft.”
I would add a few more, but that can be for another time.
A synopsis of some of the other “tools” you need are:
Books by Jennifer Weiner
2) The Miserable Love Life: “Again, a crucial ingredient for the formation of a novelist – romantic humiliation and heartbreak.”
3) Major in Liberal Arts (but not necessarily creative writing): “…a liberal arts education gives you a framework in which to place your own experiences, a context you can use to look at everything else ….”
4) Get a Job (not an MFA): She admits this one might be a bit controversial. But she says she thinks journalism “is just about the perfect career for aspiring young writers.” And if you can’t get a jog in journalism, camp counselor, cook, nanny or anything else that takes you out of your comfort zone is good.
5) Write to Please Yourself: “Tell the story that’s been growing in your heart.”
6) Get a Dog: Getting a dog can help teach you discipline and discipline is what you will need to be a writer.
7) Get Published: Submit, submit, submit. Expect to face rejection, but submit.
8) Find an Agent: This may take as much work, at least for a while, as being a writer.
9) Be a Smart Consumer: Advice on how to screen an agent that is interested in you. You don’t have to take the first one that says yes to your query letter, synopsis, finished novel.
10) Read: “Read everything. Read fiction and non-fiction, red hot best sellers and the classics you never got around to in college.”
For more details on these tools, go to http://www.jenniferweiner.com/forwriters.htm.
Filed under Writing Tip Wednesday
cARtOONSDAY: oN tONIGHT’S mENU
In the end, somebody may get his just desserts.
Filed under cartoon by author, CarToonsday
Monday morning writing joke: Hot spot
Not exactly the hot spot I had in mind.
I’m a writer and I don’t get no respect. Just the other day my mother came over for a visit. She’s a religious woman of sorts. She said she had something that she thought would help me write. She asked if she could hang it in my office. I thought maybe it was a poster with some writing quotes on it. I said okay. She hung it and then left.
When I entered the office, I found the item. It was a plaque. It read: “You are cordially invited to the theological place of eternal punishment.”
Below that she had placed a sticky note that read: “Love, Mom.”
Filed under cartoon by author, Monday morning writing joke, no respect
Sunday silliness: Ripped from the headlines:”Girlfriend upset that parents are dating”
[Editor’s note: This is more than the headline or a line from the article, though the title is a bit odd: Girlfriend upset that parents are dating. The girlfriend of one of the parents. Dating her? I thought the title and letter/response was worth posting. It is from the “Ask Amy” advice column that appears in my local newspaper.]
Girlfriend upset that parents are dating
DEAR AMY: My boyfriend and I have been dating for almost two years.
(Ed. note: Each other, I assume, but this point is unclear. They could have been dating several people for a total time of two years.)
We plan on getting married someday.
(Ed note: Isn’t that what they always say?)
Yesterday we found out that his mom and my dad have been secretly dating.
(Ed. note: I guess it is a secret no longer.)
Neither his mom nor my father seems to see our problem with this. But if they continue dating and decide they want to get married, doesn’t that mean my boyfriend and I would now be brother and sister?
(Ed. note: Ah, the human genome conundrum.)
Is there any way I can talk sense into them?
–Betrayed
Once upon a half-cocked notion…
DEAR BETRAYED: If you truly believe that your boyfriend’s mother and your father marrying would turn you to into siblings, then — please — do not get married and procreate.
(Ed. note: Definitely good advice.)
If your respective parents are single and available, then there is no reason they can’t (or shouldn’t) date.
(Ed. note: Except maybe the chance that they could produce a half-Betrayed child.)
However, while there is nothing you can (or should) do to prevent these two adults from dating, you do have a right to express yourselves. Mainly, you should do your best to communicate your discomfort to both parents. They should do their best to be open with you.
If these two got married and you also got married, you and your guy would become both step-siblings and spouses.
(Ed. note: and the step-mother would also be the mother-in-law and the step-father would also be the father-in-law. Think of all the money and headache that would be saved at Christmas and other holidays, especially if the young couple has children. And if the older couple has a child, too, then you have a step-child that’s stepping all over the human genome! Oh, the humanity!)
Writers on Writing
“The scariest moment is always just before you start.”
–Stephen King
Filed under Stephen King, Writers on writing
Ripped from the headlines: Would you want to be this man?
Suppose one morning you woke up, and over breakfast opened the morning paper to find this ad thanking you for services rendered?
Would an advertisement such as this flatter you? Notice the heart border?
Such was the case for Mr. George Brownridge because of a shopping rip he arranged for some women. Something done every year. Some details here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2178757/George-Brownridge-thanked-pleasing-15-women-entire-day-hilarious-newspaper-ad.html
Once made aware of their possible … ah … screw up, the ladies had this ad published:
An apology for any misconstruing of information.
No word as to whether Mr. Brownridge felt appreciative or deflated by the apology.
Filed under 2012, Ripped from the headlines
Freeform Friday: “I once was blue, too”
[Editor’s note: “I once was blue, too” was written a bit tongue in cheek in response to a friend on Facebook who changed his profile photo to an all-blue photo. I have included it here. After writing it and reading it, I think it holds up fairly well, so I thought I would post it here to annoy a few more people.]
What do you see in this wild blue yonder?
I once was very blue
then one day I saw you
and because of your blue hue
I could no longer be blue, too.
When asked if this was true,
I said what else could I do?
Next, I tried being red
but it all went to my head
and it filled me with fiery dread.
What else could be said?
I then tried being green,
but it was the worst I’d ever seen
so bad as to be obscene
Everywhere I went, I made a scene.
I tried be being yellow
a sallow looking fellow
Not too bright and not too mellow
Still people wanted to bellow.
Up next, I tried being gray
and though on my beard it did stay
I sent the rest of it away.
I’ll deal with it another day.
Other colors I tried, too:
purples, oranges, and violet brews
but none fit me quite like blue.
But what else was I to do?
I could not be as blue as you.
Filed under Freeform Friday, poetry by author
Haiku to you Thursday: “Night ashes”
Ashes ride the night,
jilted lovers lost in flight.
Rain’s touch reunites.
Filed under Haiku to You Thursday, poetry by author
Writers on Writing
“[The writer] has to be the kind of man who turns the world upside down and says, lookit, it looks different, doesn’t it?”
—Morris West
Filed under Writers on writing
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