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Showing posts from December, 2011

Christmas shopping epiphany

When my son was a toddler, about 11 ye ars ago, his favorite show was Thomas the Tank Engine .  He was mesmerized by the colorful, talking trains. The show was somewhat entertaining too—I would smile at the parade of Mr. Conductors—Ringo Starr, Denny Dennison and George Carlin. I knew these men as musicians and a comedian respectively.  Now my son associated them as teeny, tiny men in conductors’ uniforms. My husband and I would search many a store for anything Thomas. I was confused by the lack of merchandise for such a popular children show. However, not a book, a plastic figure nor a fluffy beach towel could be found with cheery Thomas’ image.  We couldn’t understand it—how could there not be any type of Thomas toy for us to buy our son? Back then, there was a significant drought nowadays we are inundated with Thomas gear. It was ironic how we kept running into these items as we were Christmas shopping this year. Of course, our son has no interest in these things now—he has entered

Dismantling writer's block

Last week I had the opportunity to read a chapter of my book to a teen writing group at the Meridian Library .  They were a great bunch of kids, each had their own stories they were working on and sharing.  One teen had even self published a couple of his books. After I read my chapter, there was a question and answer period. One of the questions I was asked was what would I do if I had writer’s block? My answer involved mentioning a famous writer Fran Lebowitz who had writer’s block for 10 years. I had recently seen the Martin Scorsese documentary, Public Speaking, and quickly made the association. However, the young man wasn’t having any of this example. He asked me again very specifically, ”What would you do if you had writer’s block?”   I smiled to myself—why bring up someone else when I have my own opinions?  I gave my scenario of writer’s block. At the beginning of creating a story, it can be exciting and thrilling, as with all new things. However, you may find that same story