Ah, I do love a good challenge. It’s just as well, when you think of it: my entire life is one big challenge. I remember saying to myself, before my son Alex was born, I’m in such a rut. I need some excitement in my life! Now THAT was a lesson in being careful what you wish for, right there. Between surgeries, deafness, feeding issues, pneumonias and meanwhile trying to run a business, the first eight months of his life were anything but boring. But I digress. For what I have coming up in the month of April is nothing, by comparison.
Yes, the A-Z Challenge. Since I’m going to write about writing, I thought why not extend the challenge and write a fiction piece a day to illustrate the article I post here? It’s only twice the amount of work, after all! And besides, there’s no reason I shouldn’t show rather than just tell…right?
We’ll see how far I get.
For now, I’m attempting to put all my accumulated notes in alphabetical order. It only seems to make sense, and why put it off? I’ll have enough to do, starting tomorrow.
Don’t you love a challenge? How will you be challenging yourself in the upcoming month?
I have a recurring dream of being stuck in an elevator. Over the years, I’ve connected it to being stuck in a rut, being undecided about something, or being worried about which direction my life is going. You see, the elevator doesn’t just stop – it takes over. It has a life of its own, going up, down and sideways. Sometimes it is much smaller than the shaft and it swings on its cables. Sometimes it stops between floors and the doors open – revealing to me the scariest thing of all: the dark, dirty elevator shaft.
I had the dream again last night, but this time it was a little different. The elevator continued to have control, but I overcame the dream.
I was in a three storey building and I got into the elevator with two men. I wanted to go from the third to the second floor, but for some reason I couldn’t push the button, so the elevator went to the first floor. The men got out, and I pushed the second floor button, but I ended up again on the third. I allowed the door to close, vowing that if I missed the second floor again, I’d get out on the first and take the stairs. Of course, when the doors closed, the elevator took control. We went up to the roof and started going sideways. I had a window in the elevator then (why? It was a dream) and I could see the tops of the other rooves from where I was.
Instead of panicking, however, as I usually do in this dream, I pulled a piece of paper and a pen out of my bag and I sat down and started writing. I figured if the elevator wasn’t going to do what I wanted it to, I’d make the best of it with the time I had on my hands.
Pretty cool, eh? If only I could remember what I wrote. It might just have been brilliant.
There are days when I wish I could just let everything go; empty my mind of all worries, thoughts, desires, and fantasies. Being empty allows me to fill myself up with whatever I want. A clean slate to write on. I wish to be a blank page.
I want to be clean. To stand in a rain storm and scrape away my cares. To unearth my stress and toss it over my shoulder–discarded–not to be seen again.
I want to drive fast down a highway with the windows open, looking forward to the horizon with no destination.
I want to sink to the bottom of the pool, unbreathing, weightless, peaceful.
I want to meditate. To drift off into the ether; to become one with the universe, and there, commune with spirits of those unliving. To join in their stories.
I want nothingness. With nothing inside me, I can fill myself with what I need.
Happy Blogaversary to me,
Happy Blogaversary to me…
Okay, it doesn’t quite slip off the tongue like Happy Birthday does, but it’s unique to the Blogiverse, isn’t it?
In celebration of my first aniversary, I’ve made a few changes… in fact you won’t recognize it, other than the fact that all my fiction and poetry are still there. To make it more clear that my fiction blog is, indeed, a fiction blog, I’ve changed the name to “Inspiration in Progress” to coincide with this one – “Life in Progress.” I’ve also changed the menus, the “About” page, and the theme!
Please go and have a visit, and let me know what you think.
There’s nothing quite like pizza for breakfast. Straight out of the box in the fridge and into my mouth. And don’t tell me it’s not the right way to eat a pizza.
But… I’m a hypocrite. Although I can’t stand having someone tell me what is the right or wrong way to enjoy my food, I often tell my best friend, John, just that. I mean seriously, just because it’s not the right way for me (or most of the other people on the planet) to eat peanut butter… on a sandwich with a slice of processed cheese… should I be telling him it’s not right?
Damnit, yes! It’s wrong, plain and simple. It’s like putting ketchup in your chicken noodle soup, or eating baked beans smothered with maple syrup. (I’ll get some flack from the Quebecois on that one, particularly this time of year.)
We all have our oddities when it comes to food. What are yours?
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Hi there, and welcome once again to the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt!
In a month or so of reading other blogger’s posts, I find an amazing pattern is emerging. Without the editing process, I can see writer’s voices come through in a way that they don’t necessarily when a piece is pored over, fixed, and fixed again. Reading many of the SoCS posts is like relaxing over a cup of cocoa and enjoying a quiet conversation with a friend. Do you see it? I urge everyone, whether you’re participating or not, to click on some of the links in the comments, to read their posts. There’s some fascinating stuff going on in these bloggers’ lives, and in their thought processes. It’s wonderful to see!
So without further ado, here is this week’s prompt: Write or right, in any of its definitions. Either make this the theme of your post, or just use the word somewhere. It’s up to you.
After you’ve written your Saturday post tomorrow, please link it here at the prompt page in the comments so others can find it and see your awesome Stream of Consciousness post!
Here are the rules:
1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.
2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.
3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” or “Begin with the word ‘The’.”
4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people will come and read your post! The way to ping back, is to just copy and paste the URL of my post somewhere on your post. Then your URL will show up in my comments, for everyone to see. For example, in your post you can copy and past the following: “This post is part of SoCS: (https://lindaghill.wordpress.com/2014/03/01/socs-stream-of-consiousness-saturday-the-rules/)” Also, you can come here and link your post in the comments. The most recent comments will be found at the top.
5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.
6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!
I came across this first thing this morning when taking a quick look at Facebook. My son had put this up on his page, mentioning having watched it in a lecture regarding language of the ‘proper’ use thereof and I found it both utterly hilarious as well as more than a little on the money. So it seems we have a winner for the lead spot that will take us into the
Weekend Funny Challenge
while at the same time making more than just one point regarding the written word and all its possibilities in a way that only
Stephen Fry
could manage. Don’t forget that the Weekend Challenge starts midnight tonight EST – so have your quirks, stories and laughs all lined up so we can all see just What Makes You Laugh.
At the mall this morning I walked into a shop, where the clerk behind the counter was speaking on the phone. Her name, according to her name tag, is Theresa Thomas. I stood before her and she held up her hand to indicate that she was almost finished with her call, so I did what anyone would do. I eavesdropped.
As it turns out, Ms. Thomas was talking to someone who wanted her name. This is how her half of the conversation went:
Her: Yes, that’s right.
pause
Her: It’s Thomas. Right. T H O M A S.
pause while I thought to myself, Couldn’t they have figured that out? She pronounced the ‘th’ like one would say the word ‘throw.’
Her: Thanks. Bye.
Her: (to me) Can I help you? (or at least that’s what I think she said. I was distracted by the ingenuity of this woman’s parents and the fantasy of how she might pronounce her first name.)
Her: Can I help you?
Me: OH, yes…
And so it went.
Thufferin’ thuccotash, some people, eh?
This brought to mind a place I worked as a secretary/receptionist, long, long ago in the time before children. The company’s salesman, Mike Daoust, insisted on making sure everyone knew how his name was properly pronounced.
“‘Doe,'” he told people. “Just like a deer.”
So one day I was sitting at my desk, shuffling papers and trying to act like I was working, when a man walked in the door looking for Mike.
“Can I tell him who’s here to see him?” I asked the broad, red-faced man who streamed with sweat across from me at the desk.
My finger poised over the intercom, I couldn’t believe my luck.
I smiled and pressed the button, “Mike, there’s someone here to see you.”
lindaghill.com 