%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |
a journal |
 This book is intended as a place to blog about my life and things I'm interested in and answers to prompts from various blog prompt sites here on WDC, including "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS"  and "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" I'm not sure yet what it'll turn into, but I'm going to have fun figuring it out. |
| Write about a family heirloom or simply an object that's been passed through the generations in your family. During the Great Depression, my mother's father's family lived in northern Ohio. Great-grandma had five children and needed money--like everyone else. One of the things that she did was weave rag rugs on a loom that was hand made. I don't know who made it, but we have it, now. It sit about three and a half feet tall and takes up half the room. It's a two heddle loom that switches as it's beaten. Right now, the loom isn't set up. It's too big for our house. I'm not sure what is going to happen next, either. I do know that eventually, the loom will go to one of my sisters. I've never really been home while it as set up. While I was overseas, Mama set it up in front of the television, and my siblings made rugs from a warp that my great grandmother had set up. We have a roll of rugs now, from our past, our leftovers, old clothes and old blankets. And one of those rugs are in every single one of my siblings homes. |
| Write a poem about Spring and April. spring is gardens and pollen gathering around, thick as ash after a volcano. the world turns green and greener. we breathe green and see it coating the ground, until we till it under into brown, and plant seeds for the water to rot and the squirrels to devour. spring is finals and graduation, marching in the sun, shivering in robes for the remnants of snow. spring is rebirth and birth, hope and death. life and pollen, mixed together into a headache and a running nose. |
| What is your most treasured work memory? I think it might be a time that came while I wasn't working. I was in the university library, using a computer and this young man came up to me. He thanked me for being his freshman English teacher and told me that I had been one of the defining teachers of his college career. It was surreal, mostly because I did remember him, vaguely. I think he was a B student, someone who I enjoyed reading. He was part of a class that was full of good students. But he remembered me, and that was just amazing. That's the only time that it's happened to me, but I think I'd love to be able to do that for some of my old teachers. |
| True crowning moments: Character, Choices, Courage, Compassion. Do you think the world will remember you by these crowning moments in your life? I'm not sure I want to be remembered by my crowning moments. Those are the highlights of a life, the times when things have gone spectacularly right at the end of a long journey of hard work. And they are the small bits, the moments out of a life. I think I would rather be known for how I live in between. I knit. Just tonight, I finished a shawl that I've been working on since the beginning of the month. But the point isn't the finished product. It's the process of knitting in the first place. It's the same thing with other things in life--the most important thing isn't the end goal, it isn't graduating, but the classes that I've taken to get there. It isn't the book, it's woring on it . |
| What books are on your Spring Reading List? Well, that's complicated. Spring isn't for a couple of weeks yet, so my book list will change before then. For what it's worth, I am currently reading Stephanie Laurens' Adventurer Quartet (I brought it with me and I only have a book and a half left, which would be poor planning except I brought a couple other books too, like Redemption of Althalas by David Eddings and The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey. I also am reading the Psy-Changing books by Nalini Singh and random other ones. Yesterday, at the library while talking to my sister, I read Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones, and I enjoyed that. I am also, currently, being brought little books to read to my nephews--the five year old and two year old. They are so cute. The older one is picking the books. He can read but prefers me to. The younger provides an echo as I read. They're both cute. |
| "I have a writing addiction." Prince Do you feel like this? Write anything you want about this. Absolutely, I feel like this. Addiction is something that you feel like you have to do, often at the sacrifice of other things in life. It consumes me, much as other addictions consume, filling days and dreams and the edges of existence, like dust in the corners, creeping into the rest of the room. It colors my relationships because as I interact with people, I find myself catching pieces of conversation or mannerisms, bits of other people's lives--things that I can turn into story. Now, I have to say that for many people addiction is something that is meant to be fought. We have a great many mechanisms in place to try and fight addictions to alcohol, drugs, sex, eating, gaming, pornography . . . there are so many different kinds of addictions and so many people and ways to seek help with those addictions. I suppose that I could look for help. They could cure me and I would never want to write again. But I don't want to be cured. I am perfectly content being addicted to the written word. I like writing. I like that my life is surrounded by stories. |
| What do you think about people who magnify little things, such as blowing small mishaps out of proportion instead of taking a step back and looking at the issue objectively? Have ever blown anything out of proportion? I find I have very little patience with melodrama. I remember when I was in high school, there was a couple who spent their time getting together and breaking up and hurting each other and living on the very edge of their skins--but it always felt as though they were not really serious about it--they thought that love and life should be like a soap opera, so they arranged it so it would be. It was exhausting. I know that the question is more complicated than that. For example, there are people who magnify out of humorous effect. I do it myself to some degree. I kind of like that. There are also times when some small act, something that no one else notices or thinks anything of becomes tremendous. Okay, I have an example of that from my own life. I'm the oldest of six, so when everyone was at the dinner table, there were eight of us, and as one of the older ones, I helped fill plates, especially for the very little ones. One day (I was feeling hormonal and I was about sixteen, just to give some perspective) I was standing and pouring milk for everyone. And then I sat. And I burst out crying. I didn't know why at first, but when they asked me what was wrong, all that came out was that no one ever poured milk for me. Sometimes, I think, it's easier to look at something little and complain about it than to face the bigger things we all have to. I am always going to complain if I do something little like get a splinter or stub my toe, but when I'm really injured or in pain, there's no room in my life for anything but the focus on pain. I remember a friend of mine--we'd just gotten to camp and she broke her arm (while we were setting up things). She sat and started laughing with the rest of us standing around, trying to help but she didn't let anyone do anything. A splint and a ride to the ER--not even any pain killers because if we gave her some, they wouldn't give her the good stuff (as she put it). In other words, I've learned that when we see something who (we think) is magnifying things out of proportion, we should be the ones taking that step back to see what the bigger thing is. Never assume that something we know is a little splinter isn't bigger to someone with smaller fingers. And if someone is exhausting us with melodrama, maybe it's time to step away and let someone else be the audience. |
| What did you get in trouble for the most when you were younger? I actually didn't get into much trouble as a child. I read a lot and got good grades and didn't do anything to self destructive. I'm the oldest of six and we're a close family. I watched my younger brother and sisters, although I did end up torturing them in the way that most older siblings end up torturing younger siblings. I still have a good relationship with all of them, so I guess even that wasn't too bad. I liked all of my teachers, although my algebra teacher in ninth grade was upset with me that I read in her class. She really couldn't say much about that because I was still at the top of the class for the work. Another teacher told me later that he used to gauge how well his lectures were going by when I brought out my book. I was indifferent about chores--compounded by the fact that when I was a senior in high school, I got my hair caught in a vacuum cleaner. I still don't like them. I've been thinking about life today--mostly because it's my birthday (I'm 42) and it's a time to reflect. I've actually trod very lightly upon the earth. I rarely got in trouble or made waves. But, on the other hand, I hope I've done little things that made the world better for the people around me. That's the hope. I wonder if I'll ever know if I succeeded. |
| Prompt: "The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity." Dorothy Parker What is your take on this? I am very rarely bored. Not because I don't have the capability, but because I spend my time doing my best not to be bored. So, I guess I agree with this quote. I find that when boredom approaches, the appropriate response is to wonder. To open a book, to do something new, to play with my nephews, to do something that means that boredom goes away and interest returns. There really is a lot in the world to wonder about. It's amazing when I think about it. How many things there is that I don't know and how many ways I can work to discover those shades of interest. Right now, I'm off at my sister's house watching my nephews play while my niece and my sister are off at some thing. She just turned 12 on Tuesday so we came down to visit. It's just amazing to think that she's growing so fast. Her brothers are 9. 6, and 2, and I can see them growing by leaps. The two year old can already recognize some words--I don't know whether it's because he's memorized the book or because he can actually recognize the letters, but he sits and reads with us. Children are so full of curiosity--in fact, it's only when they leave it be that they learn to be bored. |
| Prompt: Life is what happens when you have dreams and are busy making plans. What do you think this means? I think it means that we don't have a choice. It's all very well to have dreams and make plans, but life is going on despite that, and if we don't take care, we're going to lose out on those dreams because we're not doing. I think that's especially important to remember as a writer. I find it really easy to settle back and just watch life pass me by because I enjoy watching people and reading situations and stories. But it's also important to do, instead of watch. At least, that the lesson that I'm settling on right now. |
 Log in to Leave Feedback |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
