Vacationed...

Vaycay shunned. Vay cayshuned. Vayke aschun'd.

We're going on a  vay-cayshun, and snorkling for the first time! Has anyone ever been snorkling before? Frankly, I'm just freaked about the sharks.
Sharks?
Well, when you put it that way...
I'm missing 2 weeks of school.
And 2 weeks of internet.

So that's really what this blog post is about: Don't have Great Expectations (Charles Dickens) for very much these next few weeks! And don't be expecting your charrie sketch on my other blog, sketchwriteress.blogspot.com, for a little while. Sorry!
So on to the next thing!
I'm going to run of a quick writing prompt here...
Thanks to the wonderful insight of a comment-er on the Staring does not = stalking! post (http://thewriteress.blogspot.com/2012/02/staring-does-not-stalking.html), I've been inspired to help you all on your path to authoral greatness.
You can thank me later.

So here's something really really quick cause I have no time at all...
Find a few of your favorite books, and flip open to the middle of one of them. No peeking! Stab your finger in the pages somewhere, then open the book up and take the first sentence your finger lands on. Beginning with that sentence, write a paragraph or two or twenty of your own work.

Example: Let me take my copy of Palace of Mirrors by Margaret Peterson Haddix...

"I take a tentative breath and draw in the sweet odor of roses, lilies, lavender." (This is from the beginning of chapter 21.)

Could you write something out of that? I could. A whole story, actually. Keep in mind that this is definitely NOT plagiarism, no! It's taking creative licenses and doing your own totally different thing. I highly doubt what you write from this will exactly follow the lines of Ms. Haddix' novel.

Take a sentence you like from your own book, or here's another one to keep you busy:

"When you find something that's whole, you do what you can to keep it that way."
Gary D. Schmidt, Okay for Now.


To borrow the words of Gail Carson Levine (gailcarsonlevine.blogspot.com), have fun, and save what you wrote!

Happy (late) Valentine's Day!!

Ahh, the day of love... How did you celebrate your V day? I went to a Valentine's party... lots of fun. And I have taken it upon myself to share some of the activities that we played.
The first, we were given a paper heart with the beginning of the poem "Roses are read, violets are blue..." and asked to complete it. Mine:
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
I'm not a poet,
So don't expect this to rhyme.
Here's a few others:
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Your parents are dead
And never loved you. (We advised this author to drop the dark poetry or he'd never get a wife.)
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Darth Vader's your father
But I still love you.
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
This poem is stupid
Because it's not true.
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Will you marry me?
(Yup. All the girls went, "Awwwww!")

Share some of your favorite V-day poems. And catch phrases: some of my favs were "If I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put U and I together. (Mostly because everything would be easier if the vowels were in closer proximity to each other.)"
"You've stolen my heart. Literally. Blood... loss... [passes out]"
"Is that Cupid in your pocket? Or do you just have really weirdly-shaped pants?" (This one doesn't make sense, but I think it's funny.)
"Which of these 3 things should you NOT give a girl on Valentine's Day? 1. chocolates, 2. flowers, 3. tickets to a monster truck rally. (Hint: it's number three.)"
"My life without you is like a broken pencil... pointless."
"Hey, a date with me is at least better than eating those weirdly chalky heart things."

:)

Happy V day!

Merry Christmas!!!

Hey everyone...
Hope ya'll have been having a great Christmas!
Christmas this year put me in mind of a few videos that i just wanted to share:

Yup. I love this guy.

Here's some holiday cheer
For you this year! (Yep, that's my pitiful excuse for rhyming.)

Merry Christmas!

Also, I forgot to add... this year my absolute fav gift this year was from my mom.

AND AUTOGRAPHED NOTE FROM WENDY MASS, the best author of all time!

Fantastic, no?

So anyways, I hope that Christ has been in your Christmas this year and have a fantastic rest of the day!

"What day is it?!" Christmas

Are you wondering what day it is? Well, if you said Wednesday, you're half right! It's.... (drumroll, please) WRITING-PROMPT WEDNESDAY!!!!!!!!

Okay, today's soundtrack is Christmas music. The real jazzy kind. Pick up some Vince Guaraldi or Erin O'Donnell. Now reach back WAYYYYYYYY into your memory files in your mind and glean out your earliest Christmas memory. Mine is strange, but I'll share it with you.

I was 6? 7? 8? Don't know. But that was one of the only Christmases my grandparents from Florida had come to visit us, and I got sick. I don't remember any of my gifts or the giving process, Christmas dinner or anything, but I do remember playing Monopoly with my grandma by our back door.. There was snow outside, but I couldn't play because I was sick. But I did have fun playing Monopoly on our old ripped-up card table. I had a drink of that nasty stuff, Airborne, in a bright pink plastic cup, sitting on the floor next to my chair. That's all I remember.
Could you make a story out of that? I think I could. Add a little anticipation, a shattering realization, then a grudging acception. Add a little Christmas music and some snow, and you have a cute little Holiday short story with the whole plot roller coaster: set up the scene; the inciting incident; the rising action; the climax; the falling action, and the resolution, just in as many words.

Can you do that with your story? In fact, what was the worst thing that happened to you that Christmas? Make it worse. Best thing? Make it INFINITELY better!

Merry Christmas!