Daily Funny

Stolen from freelance writing jobs' facebook page.

Not directed at my parents; I just found it amusing.

Mary Schmich - Pulitzer

Even though I don't know her (despite a facebook friendship!), I want to congratulate Mary Schmich on her Pulitzer Prize.  I've read her articles for many years.  I think she has some very astute observations on the way things are and a very clear, precise way of communicating them.   I hope, one day, that THIS BLOGGER will win a pulitzer for commentary.

Dear Miss Schmich - in case this somehow came up in your google alerts - my mom calls your articles 'Schmichies' and always saves them for me.

Goals For 2012

So last year was a year of a lot of changes for me.  I went in with some goals, as I outlined in some previous posts.

Anyhow. They saying putting one's goals down in writing and/or telling people about one's goals makes her more likely to achieve them because it makes them seem more definite.  That, and there's the fear of public failure.  Other people knowing and, mayhaps, 'watching' one will better keep that person in check.  Kind of like having a weight-loss buddy.  Or something like that.

Anyhow.

My goal for 2012....

I have a short story that needs to be written.  I've dragged my feet on doing so for a very long time.  By the end of 2012, I should have a hard draft done.

There you go.

Keep me in check.

Hopefully this goes better than my promises to blog more.

The Notebook?

So twice today - once while at the beach, the second time while walking down the street, past a coffee shop - I witnessed something:

A person sitting and writing in what looked to be a journal.

I find this interesting.  Was said person seriously journaling?  Do people do this?  I did this when I was in junior high/high school.  It's not that I think is this a juvenile activity, per se.  It is just that there is something unusual, to me, about adults doing this out in public.  What else could they be doing?  I assume if it was something work or academic related, there would be some other books/notes/paperwork spread out, and, more noteworthy, it would be being done on a computer (or some form of electronic device).  I can't imagine, these days, doing any form of writing or work on paper for this reason.  This is mostly because paper doesn't have a backspace key.  Or an easy way to insert an idea.  Or to simply edit something.  How did people possibly write pre-word processor days!?!?!  I guess there must have probably been a lot of committing to one's original ideas and less editing.

I digress.

Is it possible that someone sitting and writing in a notebook is doing something other than journaling?  If so, what?  Does anyone else see these people sitting around, writing in notebooks, or is it just me?  What do you think of these peeps?  What's their deal?  

Update.

So as most of my loyal readers have known (but have been too kind to say) - this blog has sucked lately.

I can offer an explanation (it's up to you to decide if it's a good one).   I entered a writing contest.  It took a lot more of my 'word energy' than I expected.

Anyhow.  I had plenty of time to write said story.  Yet somehow, I found myself scrambling to make the deadline up until the final hour for submissions.  It was sweet and reminiscent of college.  Sigh.  Maybe it's good practice for what's to come, if I head back to school.

The writing prompt was to write a personal memoir.   So I did.  Judging based on past winners of said contest, I don't really think I have a chance of winning, because it's not a sensational/traumatic/life-changing enough experience that I chose to write about (no more info about my piece will be discussed).  But that's ok; I wrote the story more for cathartic purposes.  

However, what I had the most trouble with was ending the story.  I feel like these things are always supposed to end on a 'I learned something/I changed for the better'  kind of note.  I wasn't sure what to say here.  Maybe it's that I don't think everything happens for a reason or that whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.   I've surely lived a charmed life compared to most, yet if everything happens for a reason, there's a couple instances on which I'm still waiting for an explanation.   That, and I do think that sometimes in life, some experiences wear us down, weaken us, dishearten us, and cause us to put up walls.   So, I had no trouble explaining this experience and how it affected my life, but I'm not sure I gave them the Cinderella ending they were hoping for.  That, and, as a Chicagoan, I probably ended  some sentences in prepositions (see previous sentence) - I have a tendency to unabashedly do that.

That, and another challenge is the fact that, as a friend once put it, sometimes it's the things that we wish we couldn't remember that most shaped our lives.  It's hard to write a memoir when, in doing so, one is intentionally revisiting an unpleasant life experience.

Anyhow.  One thing I can promise - I will now have more time to put into this blog.   For better or for worse.

Hmm...

So there's a website:

I Write Like....

Basically, you can Check which famous writer you write like with this statistical analysis tool, which analyzes your word choice and writing style and compares them with those of the famous writers.

My result:

I write like
Dan Brown

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Your thoughts?

Facebook Knows Me Better Than Blogspot....

The ads that come up for me on facebook:

--Single and Love Dancing?



--All the Writing Ladies



--The Daily Dog



Looks like facebook has been taking some cues from the Chicago Dianetics Society. It's pretty safe to say I'm being stalked.

Currently Reading....

The Writing Class by Jincy Willett....

You know, review to come....

Sidenote:  antp, I think you would specifically like/appreciate some aspects of this book....