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This is a personal Challenge to write 500 words a day. Join me on my Journey. |
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The Challenge: Write 500 words every day for a year.
Can I do it? Join me and find out! |
 ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Pick a fictional place (jn or out of our world) from any story, novel, or play. Imagine you are visiting that place as a tourist, and write about it as if you are a travel writer. Don’t forget to tell us your source. I would like to invite you to a new and amazing world. This recent discovery is available to only the most discerning of travelers. You see, our explorers have found a portal that leads to a world akin but vastly different from our own. One of the most amazing aspects of this world is the fact that when you pass through the portal, you’re spirit will manifest in a new form outside your body. You will have your very own dæmon. These beings can speak to us, and to each other. They take the form of animals, and that animal reflects your soul. Are you independent? Yours might take the form of a cat. For those who are soldiers at heart, theirs might be the form of a dog or wolf, showing their loyalty and pack mentality. As you can see, this is a very special offer, given only to those we believe capable of taking such a journey. This new world is covered in oceans, yet where there is land, there is life. Humans are not the only intelligent life there. You will also have the opportunity to go on an expedition North and meet the Panserbjørne. These massive white bears resemble our own Polar Bears, but are as intelligent as you or I. They’ve developed their own culture and are noble creatures. If you’re looking for something a bit more magical, there are also Witches, who are capable of flight and whose spirit animal take the form of birds. Historians would be interested to know that Witches lifespans are quite a bit longer than the average humans, so they make an excellent source of firsthand knowledge about the new world. Act now, because the time is short and after this next expedition, I don’t know if we’ll be permitted to send another. This is the chance of not just one life time, but many. Don’t be left behind. The world I used for this bit of fun is from the trilogy His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman.  ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Wildcard Monday! What does the phrase "March Madness" mean to you? I suppose many people would respond to this prompt with facts and figures about Basketball. I’m pretty sure it’s basketball, anyway. Whenever March Madness rolls around, those little bracket sheets appear, and we get e-mails about starting up for fun men’s basketball teams. In truth, I’m pretty much sports illiterate. A lack of hand eye coordination, and competitive spirit mixed with boredom makes sports uninteresting for me. So I’m not going to add my contribution to basketball with my March Madness post. For me, March Madness heralds the start of spring. In my part of the country, it’s the month when the robins return. One day, the whole world is bleak and cold, and the next yards are dotted with the little birds. They are little feathery balls of worm hunting madness. I’m not sure what it is about March, but the silly things tend to hang out in the middle of the road during dawn and dusk and try over and over to get run down. I’ve almost hit three or four of them since they’ve reappeared. March also means one of the most aggravating time of the year. The temperatures go up, and down, and up again. It’s the time of year when I have to switch between heating and air conditioning. That’s another little madness of March. Word Count: 559 |
| ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Halfway there you guys! The Sunday News!: Pick a random article from the headlines and talk about it. Share your opinions and feelings about it. Encourage a conversation. http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/13/health/microbe-genes-human-dna-evolution/index.htm... This article fascinates me. I’ve always been interested in genetics, and this is the first time I’ve heard about this little twist. A while back, humans began experimenting with gene splicing. We’ve created plants that glow by adding genes from fire flies. They’ve even made glow in the dark cats. Gene splicing has been around for a long time. Now, much of our food involves genetic engineering known as GMOs. Researchers have found a new twist to evolution that hasn’t been explored before. It’s known as horizontal gene transfer, and in essence microorganisms have been slipping bits of their genes into us from the beginning. One of the most fascinating things I learned from this article is the fact that you and I are not really just us. I’ve always know we’re like worlds of our own, that we host a whole ecosystem of microorganisms both on and inside us. What I hadn’t know was the fact that there are about 10 times more microorganisms than there are human cells in the body. Most of them live in our guts, and that’s one of the reasons why eating yogurt is such a good idea. They use live cultures of Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophiles to make yogurt during the fermentation process. These cultures continue living inside us and help digest our food for us. After the genome was mapped, researchers began exploring the genomes of other creatures in relation to us. What they found was quite fascinating. We have a number of tiny blips in our DNA that are comprised entirely of foreign DNA. We didn’t just have a lot in common with primates. We have some interesting things in common with fruit flies and worms. They found a lot of interesting things. Most of the changes to our DNA caused by the microorganisms involves our digestive system. In an odd way, they’re a lot like humans. They live inside of us, and alter their environment in order to make it more hospitable for them to live in. We just happen to be their environment. There was another point made in the article that I was surprised by. You know how people have different blood types? The DNA code for those blood types is complete foreign DNA. It was something transplanted into us so long ago that it passed into the entire population. Because of this new discovery, we’ve learned that evolution isn’t just about us. It’s not just survival of the fittest. It’s about two different things. Us as a living creature, and us as a habitat. On one level, we are evolving to survive, and on another level the creatures that live inside us are evolving us for the same reason. This is both awe inspiring, and mildly terrifying. We know now that our DNA can be altered by contamination by things outside ourselves. Not just due to birth, or genes passed on to us by our ancestors. Now…think about GMOs. Humans are genetically altering the food supply. How might those changes change us? Word count: 506 |
| ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Let's have some fun and write a skit... "Tonight, on the news was a story about a man clearly identified on the video footage of buying the winning lottery ticket. The problem is, he lost the ticket and cannot claim the money." Prompt: Write keep this skit lively and funny with dialogue that has the cadence of real-life speech. I can't wait to see what tale you weave! The official gave the man a sorrowful stare. “I understand that is you sir, and indeed, those are the winning numbers, however procedure is procedure and we cannot give you the money!” “Procedure!” The man cried out, “why must you always bow to forms and files? Life is not about checking the boxes, Sir. You’ve seen my face on the video, and know I’m the one with the winning ticket. How then, can you deny me my due?” “I’m so sorry, but you see, my boss would be most cross with me. There are rules, and it doesn’t matter what you say or what proofs you have, the rules are the rules to be followed by all!” “I do not believe in your rules. This isn’t fair, this isn’t right. Can’t you see that?” “Out! Out I say, I’ll have no more talk of your rule-less blasphemy.” … Okay, so not the greatest skit or the funniest, but there you go. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** In honor of Friday The 13th, tell us about a time when something went so horribly wrong that all you could do about it was laugh. >.< I’m an idiot. So…well obviously I did things wrong and did Saturday’s prompt yesterday so I’ll do Friday’s prompt today. A time when things went awry, let see…I’ve got one. We’d moved into our new home and Paul was working at night at the time. I think it was the first or second night, and I was unpacking boxes of books in the living room when I got a brilliant idea. Why not watch a movie while I unpacked? Sure I could have watched a nice safe movie like Mulan, or something fun like The Breakfast Club, but oh no, I decided to watch Creep Show…at night…alone…in a strange new empty house. As you can guess, I managed to completely freak myself out and was certain a serial killer would break in at any moment to murder me. A little while later, I decided to call it a night and let the dogs out. Since we were still new to the house, and I wasn’t sure about letting them out there by themselves, I went out with them, shutting the sliding glass door behind me. Can you guess what happened next? No? I’ll give you a hint, it clicked when it shut. Yeah, alone in a new house, at night, freaked out by a scary movie, I managed to lock myself out of the freaking house with a pair of tiny yip dogs. Perfect. After fruitlessly trying to break into my own house with no luck whatsoever, I decided I would sleep on the patio. It was the middle of summer, and trying to sleep on wood at night in a strange new place…well it wasn’t happening. I became a delectable feast for the mosquitoes, and realized there was no way I’d get any sleep like this. On top of everything else, I had to work in the morning. Finally, I gave up. I went over to my neighbors’ house and knocked, borrowing their phone to call my mom. She came to rescue me and the pups, and we left a note for my husband to come pick me up at her house when he got home. Word count: 518 |
| ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** "Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents and everyone is writing a book.” Cicero 43 BCE BCOF: The more things change, the more they stay the same. Do you agree or disagree? Do you think everyone is writing these days- a book, short stories, poetry or memoirs as Cicero indicates. Does this impact us as writers ourselves? Are we one of Cicero's everyone's? What's make us different? Blog City Prompt: In this time with the internet so easily accessible, how do you determine what is worth reading when it is so easy for people to publish whatever? What criteria is important to you when you read online articles, stories? Tie the two prompts together for a surprise from your leaders in Blog City. In a way, everyone is writing far more than they ever have. With the new popularity of Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and any number of other platforms that require written text, people who never would have written 20 years ago, write every day. Though, I don’t think books, short stories, poetry, or memoirs are what most people focus on now in days. Finding stuff worth reading on the internet can be tricky. One of the things I love is fanfiction. I can tell you now that sifting through the site for good stories can take patience. The first thing I look at is the story description. If a writer has a bunch of misspellings, poor punctuation, lack of capitalization, or uses text jargon in the summery, I don’t even check it out. The next thing I look at is how long ago the last update was if the story is unfinished. I hate getting into a good story only for it to stop in the middle, knowing that it isn’t going to be updated again. Even though it can be a lot of work to find the diamonds, they’re worth it. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Creation Saturday! Make a "Top 10" list...on any topic of your choosing. Why is #1 your #1? I’ve decided to use the anime Bleach for my top 10 list. My list will focus on my top ten favorite characters. 1. Ulquiorra Cifer – The 4th Espada Ulquiorra has always been one of my favorite bad guys. Even though he’s dark, moody, and emotionless, there’s just something intriguing about him that makes him such an interesting character. Even though he was 4th, we learn during that arch of the story that he’s more powerful than he’d let on and probably could have been 1st or 2nd. 2. Hollow Ichigo (Hichigo, or Shiro) This is an interesting character that lives inside another character. He is Ichigo’s hollow form, and his goal in life is to take over their shared body and become King. I find the inner struggle of the pair interesting. 3. Ichigo Kurosaki What I love best about Ichigo is that he is forever thwarting fate. Even when he has nothing left, and the only option seems to be to die, he continues on and grows stronger. 4. Kenpachi Zaraki He’s the Captain of the 11th Division of the Gotei 13. Kenny is a blood thirsty deamon of a man, but the greatest thing is his little Lieutenant Yachiru Kusajishi. She looks like a little girl, and it’s always fun to watch this pair. 5. Sado Yasutora Everyone calls him Chad, and he’s a huge teddy bear. Chad is amazing because he’s so strong, but he doesn’t fight for himself. He won’t defend himself if attacked, but he will fight to the death for someone else. 6. Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez Grimmjow is the 6th Espada, and what I like about him is that they really made his character match his animal. His hollow form is that of a panther, and Grimmjow personifies that cat cruelty perfectly. 7. Coyote Starrk Starrk is the 1st Espada, and he’s so delightfully lazy that it is amusing. Here he is, the most powerful of the lot, but he’d rather nap than do anything with all that power. 8. Ishida Uryu Ishida is a Quincy, and he’s a dork, but he’s a lovable dork. 9. Yoruichi Shihoin Yoruichi was a Shinigami who’d been banished. One of the fun things about her is that she can turn into a talking cat. As if that’s not fun enough, her voice in cat form is male. And, when she turns between cat and human, she has no clothes. I’m sure you can see how amusing that can be. 10. Renji Abarai One of the reasons I like Renji is kind of shallow. I love his looks and tattoos. Yes, I know, he’s a cartoon character, but still. Yum. Word count: 641 |
| ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Opinion Thursday! According to this article (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/02/america-war-93-time-222-239-years-since-1...), the United States has been "at war" approximately 93% of its entire existence. Does war solve anything? First, I want to point out that they really need to re-name the War of 1812 considering the fact that it lasted four years. Wow. How is it that I’ve never once heard about The Banana Wars? Seriously, a war that lasted 35 years? You’d think someone would have mentioned that in school. Then again, I think our school systems must be failing. After all, I’ve never heard of about 98% of these wars. Someone dropped the ball somewhere in my educational experience when a 35 year war goes without mention. I wonder why they didn’t include the Civil War? I suppose it depends on what you mean by solves. From the perspective of we want our own country, the wars that eliminated or relocated the Native Americans worked well in our favor. Not so much in theirs. I’m sure the Mexican’s aren’t thrilled with how much of their country we gobbled up during those years. The wars on Terror have been an epic failure along the same lines as the ‘war on drugs’. Anytime you attempt to wage war against an idea, it fails. We started attacking countries for the acts of individuals, and it hasn’t resolved anything. Like cockroaches, when we crush them in one country (one house), they simply pack up and move a country over (the house next door). We can’t destroy the whole neighborhood, so we have to find some other method for dealing with terrorists and terrorism. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Prompt: "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift from God which is why we call it the present. Bill Keane Do you agree with this? What does tomorrow mean to you? Yesterday is but today's memory, and tomorrow is today's dream. Khalil Gibran It’s possible to spend too much time on yesterday. We focus so hard on what’s already over and done with, that we forget to continue moving forward. How often do we lay awake in bed and think about the day that’s just ended. We replay arguments we’ve had, and think of all the things we should have said but didn’t. We fret over a look someone gave us, or a smile that wasn’t returned. We think about what goals or objectives we failed to meet. Letting go of yesterday can be difficult, but we cannot spend our lives living in the shadow of what should have been if we’d only… "Someday" is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. - Timothy Ferriss There’s something even worse than living in yesterday, and that’s waiting for tomorrow. I can’t begin to tell you how many dreams I’ve pushed off and pushed off until tomorrow. There are many times when I’ve sought to better myself, only to get to the moment of action and say “Well, I really should do this but I can wait until tomorrow.” Tomorrow is a lie. It is a trick. Tomorrow will grab your dreams and devour them. The saying “Don’t put off for tomorrow what could be done today” is an adage we should all strive to live by. If we don’t, we risk tomrorrowing ourselves to death. One day we’ll look up and wonder what happened, all those things we meant to do that went undone due to the promise of tomorrow. So remember always, the danger of tomorrow and don’t forget to live in today. Word count: 530 |
| ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Prompt: You have just received a special Award. What is the Award for? Write your acceptance speech. My heart is beating wildly in my chest when I see the package in the mail. Could it be? Holding my breath, I rip it open, and I laugh out loud as I read my name. My short story has been accepted for the Nebula Award! After years and years of trying, my work has been recognized with other amazing authors of Science Fiction and Fantasy. This year, my name and my work is showcased with theirs. Pride fills my chest and I can hardly believe it. Out of all the Science Fiction and Fantasy stories published in America last year, mine was chosen! Thankfully, it’s not the sort of award that requires standing in front of a glittering audience and trying to say anything around the ball of fear lodged in my throat. Though, if I had to give any sort of speech, and managed not to fall on my face on the way up to the stage, I suppose I would say something like this: It may have taken a few (hundred) tries, but I’ve finally made it into this amazing collection. I would like to thank my husband, for putting up with hours untold of writing, rewriting, and fretting about writing all hours of the day and night. I’d also like to thank my parents for always standing by me and encouraging me to write. To all the writers out there, know this, the difference between an amateur writer and a professional writer isn’t talent. It’s persistence. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** War Chest Wednesday! Do you have a lucky number, and if so, why is it special to you? If you don't have a lucky number, is there a trinket or similar object that carries a special lucky significance for you?   I don’t have a lucky number, but I do have a token that I’m fond of. This little fellow was a gift all the way from the Dominican Republic. A few years ago my husband and I went on a cruise with his parents. I’m glad we managed to even make it on the cruise because one of the flights we needed were cancelled, leaving us stranded for the night. Thankfully, my mother-in-law is a brilliant woman and took things like this into consideration. If the cruise would have left that day, we would have missed it. Instead, we left a day early, and would have spent the night in a hotel at Ft. Lauderdale. Somehow, we managed to make it, though our luggage almost didn’t. We had to take a cab back to the airport to pick up the bags just to make sure they made it onto the cruise with us. After everything that had sort of gone wrong, we didn’t trust the airline to send our bags on to the cruise unless we saw it with our own eyes. It would have sucked if we went on a tropical cruise, but our luggage ended up on a cruise to Alaska. Anyway, one of the places we stopped was the Dominican Republic. I was a bit worried about this stop because Dominican Republic sounds like the sort of place where we might get kidnapped. Thankfully, that didn’t happen. We did an excursion instead, and zip lined through the hottest bit of jungle ever. I’m surprised no one passed out from the heat and having to climb about a million stairs to reach the launch pads. While we were getting rigged up, they handed out these little hand-carved talismans for us to keep. Turtles for the girls, and totem poles for the boys. I love the little thing, and it’s one bit of jewelry that I’ve worn more than once. Word count: 571 |
| ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Two-fer Tuesdays: Share an item or blog entry from any of the eligible competitors this month. Include a review link for bonus points (if you choose to share an item). Review of "The Downfall of Jack and Jill"  Today I’d like to share "The Downfall of Jack and Jill"  by Cubby  . One of the reasons I chose this story is because I’m fond of twists on the old classics. From The Stinky Cheese Man by Jon Sciezka, to Beast by Donna Jo Napoli, I love writers who take the stories we’ve known and grown up with and make them into something new. In Cubby’s story, we learn something quite interesting. Jill is unsatisfied with her lot in life. As a nursery rhyme character, she doesn’t age, and she’s forced to continue enacting her tale with Jack over and over and over again. Frankly, she’s quite tired of tumbling head first after her klutzy love down that blasted hill. As if being a klutz wasn’t bad enough, Jack is also lazy, or perhaps just brain damaged to the point where he’s unable to work. Unlike Jill, Jack is content with his summersaulting lifestyle, even if he does end up more injured than Jill after each attempt at water gathering. When Jill can’t convince Jack to change, she’s forced to take action. Want to know what she did? Go read the story! Trust me, it’s worth the look. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Create 2 stanzas of a rhyming poem... that begins with Ode. Each stanza must be 4 lines, you choose if all lines rhyme or if you want create couplets. I hope you'll be able to make us experience your favorite food just the way you do... Okay…well, this is going to be interesting. For the record, I’m not great at structured poetry. When I do try my hand at poems, it’s usually free form with a random bit of rhyme thrown in haphazardly as an afterthought sometimes. So, if this turns out epically bad, that’s why. Ode to the perfect pie, I won’t lie, It will make your taste buds high, When it’s gone, you’ll want to cry. Peanut butter, oh peanut butter pie, Not cherry, apple, chocolate or chai, But peanut butter, good enough to make you die. I love, love, love, love, that peanut butter pie. I kind of cheated by using pie three times, but oh well. Good enough for government work as they say. The pie I was talking about is a specialty pie at Perkins restaurant. It is fabulous. The base is a peanut butter silk that will curl your toes with delight. On top of that, is a layer of rich, fluffy, chocolate cake. It is like an amazingly sophisticated version of a peanut butter cup. Yum! Sigh, now I’m hungry and wish I had a piece. Prompt: Clouds “Clouds are thoughts without words.” Mark Strand What do clouds mean to you? To me, clouds are satisfying. I’ve always been fond of clouds. From the little bits of fluff that look like lost sheep on an endless expanse of blue, to heavy grey spring clouds whose darkness promise wild storms, to the dull grey wool of winter clouds before a snow fall. All of them please me. Clouds keep the sun out of my eyes, which is awesome while driving. There’s also nothing better in the world than lying in bed while rain drizzles down and you know that it will continue for hours and hours. It’s perhaps one of the most soothing sounds ever. Unlike many, I don’t like bright and sunny days. I’ve always preferred a blanket of cloud cover. Word count: 501 |
| ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Prompt: What would you put in this year's time capsule to channel the essence of our current moment for future generations? If I had to choose something that defines the current moment, I’d create a collection of meme’s. There’s always a new set of meme’s that can be used to define a time, and it would be amusing to add them to a capsule, knowing that people would probably not understand what they meant once they opened them. That would be the ultimate insider joke. Imagine reading a bunch of Doge meme’s fifty years ago. I’m sure the response would be “Wow, people back then were so weird.” For me, it would be fun to add something that would make people scratch their heads and shrug in helpless confusion. J. G. Ballard, the author of Empire of the Sun, said: “I quite consciously rely on my obsessions. In all my work I deliberately set up an obsessional frame of mind. In a paradoxical way, this leaves one free of the subject of the obsession.” What do you think about this? Do you use your or another person’s obsessions in your writing? I’m not 100% certain, but I believe he’s referring to learning how to master things that usually master us. Instead of letting an obsession have control, ruining our life, he’s saying that we should figure out a way to harness that energy and put it to work for us. I like the idea of borrowing the obsessions of others to add a new level of depth to our characters. It’s the little things like that which make a character ring true to the readers. It would be awesome to know how he pulls it off, that’s for sure. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Wildcard Monday! Saturday night parts of the world had to set their clocks ahead one hour to account for Daylight Savings Time. Did you have to, and if so, did it affect you at all? According to this link (http://www.weather.com/health/news/daylight-saving-time-spring-forward-health-ef...) researchers think the switch to DST every year impacts our health. What do you think? I despise, with a burning passion, Daylight Savings Time. Every year I manage to psyche myself out about the time change, and end up getting very little sleep. That makes the next day oh so much fun. Not. This year was especially bad. I didn’t manage to get to sleep until a little after 12:30, and then just to add to the fun, my husband came home early from work. He normally works the night shift, so early for him is around 12:45. He decided that would be the perfect time to take a bath, and so I was awake until after 1. Now, back to sleep. For reasons unknown, one of my cats chose 3:30 as the perfect time to sneak up onto my head board, where a little stuffed bear with a large Valentines heart balloon tied to it sat. He grabbed the string to the balloon, and jerked it off the shelf. I’m not sure why, but next he chose to run through the house dragging this bear/balloon combo and making the same noise as a cat trapped in a plastic bag running through the house makes. Needless to say, it woke me up…again. After that, sleep was impossible even though I soldiered on and lay in bed staring at the ceiling until 6:30. So with roughly three hours of sleep last night, I’m not happy. I know it’s probably not DLS time that resulted in such a bad night, but it seems like every time the time changes things like that happen to me. I also agree that the time change is bad for our health. Our bodies adjust to our sleeping and waking times, and it messes them up when we alter those patterns. Also, it was nice being able to wake up to the natural sunlight, now I’m back to darkness for my mornings. How depressing. Word count: 518 |
| ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/03/08/obama-says-learned-clinton-private-em... One of the major reasons I chose this article was the title. The mantra ‘I heard it from the news’ is one we’ve heard from President Obama throughout his time in the White House. It got me thinking, are the people around Obama deliberately trying to keep him in the dark about important affairs of the country, or are we being lied to? In the article, it states that the White House and State Department may have known as far back as last August about Clinton failing to use a government e-mail for her communications during her time as Secretary of State. The question I’m left wondering is why didn’t anyone in either area feel the need to share that information with President Obama? What would be the purpose of keeping him in the dark about what’s turning out to be a fairly high profile scandal? Like I said before, this isn’t the first instance where Obama’s found out vital information from the newspapers and not his staff. In 2013, he said he learned about the IRS scandal – where the IRS targeted groups with “Patriot” or “Tea Party” in their names – at the same time as the rest of America: on the news. In 2014, America learned that some of our greatest citizens – people who gave their lives and health for us – were being denied basic health care. The VA had created hidden wait-lists to deny care to our veterans. The reason behind this disturbing scam was to increase their performance statistics to make their services look better than they were. In 2011, the Fast and Furious scandal broke, and again President Obama stated that he learned about it ‘on the news’. Again I ask, why is President Obama relying on the news instead of his Intelligence Department to learn about these sorts of things? It just seems very strange to me that this is a running theme throughout his presidency. I could understand him being caught flat-footed once...maybe, but why in the name of all things shiny didn’t he go to his Intelligence Department the second after the first “I saw it in the News” press conference and tear them a new one? If I was President, I would have been horribly embraced to be forced to admit that I had no idea what was going on in my own country and that my people didn’t respect me enough to keep me informed on such important matters. From what I’ve seen in the news, that hasn’t happened. In fact, the opposite seems to be true. President Obama is regularly left uninformed and in the dark about matters that should concern him, and we’re left with the tedious excuse that he is apparently just like the rest of us. He gets his news from reporters, and not his own people. So…how likely is it that the most powerful man in the world is content to be left looking the fool in the face of the public because he can’t seem to keep up with what’s going on? Personally, I find it horribly unlikely that he would continue to allow himself to look like a figurehead and not demand to be kept in the know. |
| ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** So without further ado, answer the following question in any manner you wish (poem, drama, humor, essay, lyrics, bullet points, etc...any way you'd like): Where is Waldo? “Where is Waldo?” The plaintive cry, Of children everywhere. Red and white, White and red, “Where is Waldo?” Up or down, Left or right, Is he in the middle? All the page, Is a sea, Of red and white. “Where is Waldo?” That’s enough for tonight. Put the book away. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Prompt: Reading old texts like the Greek and Roman literature and works up to a century ago versus the present-day works: Which one do you think is better for the improvement of a writer's craft? For me, it isn’t a matter of which is better because I think both have their own lessons to teach any up-and-coming writer. We should read as much as possible, dipping into old texts and new to learn about characters, stories, the texture of the senses and how to bring ink and paper to life for our readers. Even those writers who are bad have lessons to teach. Whenever you read a work and can’t believe how poorly written it was, you can dissect it and see why it’s so bad. What went wrong, and how would you fix it? I think the classics are great for teaching us that some ideas transcend time. The longing for a soldier to return home is the same for a Spartan as it was for a Civil War soldier. How often has jealousy lead to the downfall of a hero, only for him to rise again from the ashes of ruin? It is said that there are only seven basic plots. If that’s true, it would do a writer good to learn how those plots looked in the past, and how they look today. We can learn a lot from a story like Romeo and Juliet vs a book like Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman who plays with the Romeo and Juliet idea by having the son of a Mob Boss fall in love with the daughter of an FBI agent. In my opinion, the best thing for improving a writer’s craft is to read voraciously, sampling a little bit of everything from the classics to nitty-gritty crime dramas. Every media source has covered this but us... Let's talk about E.L James and 50 Shades of Grey. Do you think it is erotic romance or pornography? Do you think this will encourage more openness about sex? I wasn't surprised to see the influx of copy cat books. What about you? Keep in mind, we have a variety of age levels among us. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/02/24/u-of-illinois-chicago-s... http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/swedish-man-accused-of-killing-gi... I wanted to share these two articles because I think this is something we’re going to see a lot more of due to the nature of the book. It isn’t that 50 Shades of Grey is about erotica or even about BDSM, the major problem is the lack of proper research done for the book and the false view painted for these types of relationships. Because of that, people are attempting to recreate the scenes of Fifty Shades of Grey without any true knowledge of BDSM or how to participate in this form of sex without causing permanent damage to their partners. In the second article, the young woman ended up dying after the game played out. The popularity of these books has opened up a world that many people weren’t aware of prior to reading them, and there are those who will try to enter that world without the proper research only to hurt each other more than expected. I have no problem with books dealing with erotica, but I do think that some subjects should be handled with a bit more care than others. BDSM is one of those subjects. People should be allowed to write about it, but they should do their due diligence before writing so that they don’t end up passing along false information that could result in the situations above. Word Count: 544 Thank you, ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** "I try to create sympathy for my characters, then turn the monsters loose." -Stephen King |
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