*pow* take that, writers block!
Yes.
I am sitting here at my computer and trying to find something to write about. I am slowly getting out of the habit of writing and this is not good. I need to keep going. I have heard from so many authors that the best way to write is to make yourself do it. Just sit down at your desk, lock the doors if you have to, and write!
The romantic in me likes to raise my eyebrows disapprovingly at that advice. What? Force yourself to write? You can't have much to say or be a very good writer if you have to force it out. But deep down I know this is simply my way of trying to get out of the discipline of writing even when I don't feel like it. You just can't always be in the mood to write, the same way you cannot stay in shape by only running when you feel like it.
And so I write.
*five minutes go by*
*check facebook and pinterest again.*
When I was 4 or 5 years old my father was stationed in Yuma, Arizona. We weren't able to get a house on base right away so my parents rented a house for several months while we waited to move. This was the house where I learned to ride a bike (without training wheels) had my first lemonade stand and went on wild adventures with my sister in our backyard.
Leanne (my sister) is a year and a half older than me. I always looked up to her. She had the answer to every question I'd ask (even if she had no idea what the real answer was or the answer was "I dunno.") She also was the leader, and I was good at following her lead (most of the time.)
Our backyard at the time, had a large cement fence and when it would flood I remember thinking how smart it was that our fence was built with swimming pool walls to keep the water in... The furthest left hand side of our yard got the deepest flooding and therefore stayed wet the longest. And on one very hot summer day, Leanne decided we needed to go out to that far corner and explore.
I was, of course, on board. It was always fun to go on adventures with Leanne, but also, excited because we weren't allowed to go in that far corner when it was very wet like that, so we were going to break the rules. I was all about breaking rules. Leanne told me to be very quiet as I got on my boots and to try not to slam the door on our way out. But in my excitement and my lack of grace the door definitely slammed.
(I am almost positive Mom was aware of us the entire time.)
And as we put on our gloves and hats (I guess we thought explorers wore more clothing that summer outfits and boots) on the porch, Mom walked over and said "Hello girls."
My face was a dead giveaway, so if she wasn't certain we were about to do something we weren't supposed to before, she knew now.
Leanne glared at me. I was always ruining the plan.
But I was quick on my feet and leaped over to mom giving her a hug and asking her what she thought of my gloves. I guess I thought a diversion is what was in order.
Mom pulled the wool out of her face and asked us what we were up to. I continued to shove my gloves in her face and Leanne said we were out on an adventure.
Mom asked us if that adventure was going to get us wet.
I said "YES." with a wild look in my eyes...
Leanne again glared. I was so not cool under pressure.
Mom asked us if we were going to go to the left hand side of the yard.
"YES!" again was my zealous reply.
Leanne rolled her eyes at this point.
Mom laughed. (she must have done that a lot with us two characters.)
She agreed that we could go out to the corner but that we should probably take our socks off because the water would go deeper than the tops of our boots and we would get uncomfortable. She also mentioned that we might want to get sticks or something for the crawfish.
"The what?"I wasn't sure I liked the sound of them.
Mom then explained how when it floods sometimes little shrimp like animals are in that water.
We really WERE going on an adventure.
Leanne and I looked at each other, a whole different kind of scared than when we had first started out, but excited.
We grabbed our plastic rake and a wooden spoon and headed out.
Each step closer to the water our boots stuck a little deeper into the mucky yard, making a great suction noise. Eventually the water was midway up our galoshes so we decided to walk right next to the fence so we had something to balance ourselves on. When we were almost there we found some rocks that were lined right with the fence, like a path leading us straight to the deep water. I looked back, and Mom seemed miles away. She smiled and waved at us from the porch.
Then the rocks stopped. Leanne took the first step off and her foot went deep, deep deeeeep down. She looked at me and said she didn't touch the ground.
I wasn't sure what we needed to do now that we were out there.
It was like Leanne read my mind and she told me were were going to touch the corner and spot at least ONE crawfish and then we could return home.
I took a deep sigh. That meant we both were going to have to step in the murky water and it was going to flood into our boots with who knows what...maybe even a crawfish! But we were adventurers... we had to press on.
Our feet were very stuck and it took all our strength to slide our feet towards the corner of the fence. (in all reality it was probably 2 feet away, but it felt like we were trudging through the swamplands for hours.) Something wiggled past my leg. I screamed, touched the corner with my wooden spoon and hussled back to the rock, splashing Leanne in the process.
She met me back at the rocks telling me it didn't count. I had to touch the corner with my hands and we didn't see the crawfish, I only thought it might have been one.
I told her she was just made that she was all wet now.
This was one of the few times I didn't go along with what Leanne said. I reassured her it did too count. And suggested we go back there later and catch some crawfish for pets since we weren't allowed to have pets in that house.
She smirked but agreed that would be a good plan.
We made it home safe and sound and Mom was waiting for us on the porch with the hose and towels. We pulled off our scum filled boots and she rinsed us and our boots off and toweled our legs dry.
We walked into the house proud of ourselves. We did it.
"Adventure is Out There!"
I am sitting here at my computer and trying to find something to write about. I am slowly getting out of the habit of writing and this is not good. I need to keep going. I have heard from so many authors that the best way to write is to make yourself do it. Just sit down at your desk, lock the doors if you have to, and write!
The romantic in me likes to raise my eyebrows disapprovingly at that advice. What? Force yourself to write? You can't have much to say or be a very good writer if you have to force it out. But deep down I know this is simply my way of trying to get out of the discipline of writing even when I don't feel like it. You just can't always be in the mood to write, the same way you cannot stay in shape by only running when you feel like it.
And so I write.
*five minutes go by*
*check facebook and pinterest again.*
When I was 4 or 5 years old my father was stationed in Yuma, Arizona. We weren't able to get a house on base right away so my parents rented a house for several months while we waited to move. This was the house where I learned to ride a bike (without training wheels) had my first lemonade stand and went on wild adventures with my sister in our backyard.
Leanne (my sister) is a year and a half older than me. I always looked up to her. She had the answer to every question I'd ask (even if she had no idea what the real answer was or the answer was "I dunno.") She also was the leader, and I was good at following her lead (most of the time.)
Our backyard at the time, had a large cement fence and when it would flood I remember thinking how smart it was that our fence was built with swimming pool walls to keep the water in... The furthest left hand side of our yard got the deepest flooding and therefore stayed wet the longest. And on one very hot summer day, Leanne decided we needed to go out to that far corner and explore.
I was, of course, on board. It was always fun to go on adventures with Leanne, but also, excited because we weren't allowed to go in that far corner when it was very wet like that, so we were going to break the rules. I was all about breaking rules. Leanne told me to be very quiet as I got on my boots and to try not to slam the door on our way out. But in my excitement and my lack of grace the door definitely slammed.
(I am almost positive Mom was aware of us the entire time.)
And as we put on our gloves and hats (I guess we thought explorers wore more clothing that summer outfits and boots) on the porch, Mom walked over and said "Hello girls."
My face was a dead giveaway, so if she wasn't certain we were about to do something we weren't supposed to before, she knew now.
Leanne glared at me. I was always ruining the plan.
But I was quick on my feet and leaped over to mom giving her a hug and asking her what she thought of my gloves. I guess I thought a diversion is what was in order.
Mom pulled the wool out of her face and asked us what we were up to. I continued to shove my gloves in her face and Leanne said we were out on an adventure.
Mom asked us if that adventure was going to get us wet.
I said "YES." with a wild look in my eyes...
Leanne again glared. I was so not cool under pressure.
Mom asked us if we were going to go to the left hand side of the yard.
"YES!" again was my zealous reply.
Leanne rolled her eyes at this point.
Mom laughed. (she must have done that a lot with us two characters.)
She agreed that we could go out to the corner but that we should probably take our socks off because the water would go deeper than the tops of our boots and we would get uncomfortable. She also mentioned that we might want to get sticks or something for the crawfish.
"The what?"I wasn't sure I liked the sound of them.
Mom then explained how when it floods sometimes little shrimp like animals are in that water.
We really WERE going on an adventure.
Leanne and I looked at each other, a whole different kind of scared than when we had first started out, but excited.
We grabbed our plastic rake and a wooden spoon and headed out.
Each step closer to the water our boots stuck a little deeper into the mucky yard, making a great suction noise. Eventually the water was midway up our galoshes so we decided to walk right next to the fence so we had something to balance ourselves on. When we were almost there we found some rocks that were lined right with the fence, like a path leading us straight to the deep water. I looked back, and Mom seemed miles away. She smiled and waved at us from the porch.
Then the rocks stopped. Leanne took the first step off and her foot went deep, deep deeeeep down. She looked at me and said she didn't touch the ground.
I wasn't sure what we needed to do now that we were out there.
It was like Leanne read my mind and she told me were were going to touch the corner and spot at least ONE crawfish and then we could return home.
I took a deep sigh. That meant we both were going to have to step in the murky water and it was going to flood into our boots with who knows what...maybe even a crawfish! But we were adventurers... we had to press on.
Our feet were very stuck and it took all our strength to slide our feet towards the corner of the fence. (in all reality it was probably 2 feet away, but it felt like we were trudging through the swamplands for hours.) Something wiggled past my leg. I screamed, touched the corner with my wooden spoon and hussled back to the rock, splashing Leanne in the process.
She met me back at the rocks telling me it didn't count. I had to touch the corner with my hands and we didn't see the crawfish, I only thought it might have been one.
I told her she was just made that she was all wet now.
This was one of the few times I didn't go along with what Leanne said. I reassured her it did too count. And suggested we go back there later and catch some crawfish for pets since we weren't allowed to have pets in that house.
She smirked but agreed that would be a good plan.
We made it home safe and sound and Mom was waiting for us on the porch with the hose and towels. We pulled off our scum filled boots and she rinsed us and our boots off and toweled our legs dry.
We walked into the house proud of ourselves. We did it.
"Adventure is Out There!"
You are ready for your own "big fish" book/movie :-) You took bones and made a hilarious functioning being! :) I Love you!! And yes we do go on some pretty great adventures... :)
ReplyDelete