writing

SIX WORDS, THAT’S ALL I NEED!

/ roughwighting / 77 Comments

Ernest Hemingway, memoir, writingErnest Hemingway was once challenged to tell a story in only six words. His response:  “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

I’m sniffling already, and it’s only a six-word story!

Since then, similar challenges have been thrown out in magazines, books, and blogs:  can you tell your life story in six words?

Well, can you?

Here’s a few I’ve come up with:

WHO IS THAT IN MY MIRROR?  writer, story, memoir

Well, that’s not my life story, but sometimes it’s what I scream to myself in the morning.

 

LIFE’S HARD, LOVE SOFTENS IT UP grandkids, love, family, memoir

Life IS hard, I think we all agree. But can you imagine how much harder it would be without your loved ones? Your friends, your spouse or significant other, your children or nieces/nephews? Since I’ve been old enough to wonder about the meaning of life, about why we’re even here, I’ve figured out that it’s all about the love.

I’M STILL 30, KIDS CATCHING UP

That’s how I feel – like I’m 30 years old and having a heck of a time each day making it through my job, my joys, my fears, my … but wait. My son tells me he’s 30? How’d he catch up to me like that?

I love the title of a book that published six-word memoirs by “Writers Famous and Obscure” (2008) called Not Quite What I Was Planning.

I imagine that’s how most of us feel by the time we’ve reached a certain age. Are you nodding your head? Did you plan to be where you are, who you are, years ago? Doubtful!

Oh, here’s another one I just thought of:

BORN. EDUCATED. MARRIED. FAMILY. NOW FUN!

Spoken like the empty nester that I am. Yes, Virginia, there is life after 50 (um, and even later!)

My turn now to challenge YOU. I dare you to send me (in the comment section) your six-word story or memoir.

Come on, you can do it!

6-word memoir

 

Appreciation

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appreciation, blog, readers, writers, daughters, babysittingWhat does it mean, to be appreciated, or to appreciate something? Dictionary definition says:

 [uh-pree-shee-ey-shuhn]

1. gratitude; thankful recognition:

2. the act of estimating the qualities of things and giving them their proper value.

3. clear perception or recognition, especially of aesthetic quality: a course in art appreciation.

4. an increase or rise in the value of property, goods, etc.

5. critical notice; evaluation; opinion, as of a situation, person, etc.

      I like the #5 definition best, and it reminds me of the time I babysat for my daughter – her 1-year-old and 1-month old babies – for 8 hours, yet she picked them up after a long day kind of grumpy and well, non-appreciative, in my mind.
     So, being exhausted after the day, and feeling a bit weepy, I told her straight out as we strapped the kiddies in her car: I DON’T THINK YOU APPRECIATE ME!
     And you know what? My daughter stopped in the midst of the babies crying and asking for their bottles and dinner and stared me straight in the eye – her blue intensity gazing into my green regard and said strongly and full of love, “Mom, yes, I do! I do appreciate you!”
     I believed her. And felt loved and appreciated, and I let go of my tiredness and instead appreciated how much I loved and enjoyed these grandbabies, and how much I loved my daughter.
     That was three years ago, and still on every birthday card and Mother’s Day card and Christmas card my daughter sends me, the botton line always, ALWAYS says: I Appreciate You!
     So that’s what I first thought about when a fellow blogger nominated me this week for the “READER APPRECIATION AWARD.” She didn’t know how much this sweet award would mean to me – much more than the one word seems to imply.
     We all love to be appreciated, and I thank you, my readers, for enjoying my posts, for commenting, for smiling when I say something funny (or even when I don’t!), and mostly, for being here, allowing me to enjoy my weekly wighting writing.
     Besides telling you something about myself (see above) to accept this award, I also have the honor of nominating six other blogs. Here they are:
THANK YOU – I appreciate you all!

Inspiring!

/ roughwighting / 9 Comments

I am thrilled that I was nominated for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award by Wendy Strohm (http://wendystrohm.wordpress.com/), whose blog I discovered through luck. I enjoy her poems daily. Thank you Wendy for this honor!

The rules of the award include that I share  7 things about myself, and then pass the award on to 7 other bloggers and let them know I have awarded them.

1. I live in the San Francisco Bay area (after childhood in southern New Jersey, college in Virginia and Pennsylvania, young adulthood in Delaware, and a 10-year-stint just recently in the Boston area).

2.  I read at least a book a week. Almost all fiction. I roam from literary fiction, mystery, romantic suspense, chick lit, and sci fi/fantasy. Love it all!

3. I walk with my pal Henry (a 10-year-old golden) at least an hour a day on paths and sidewalks along the San Francisco Bay, where I hatch plots and ponder the secrets of the universe.

4. My man and I raised our two children in the Bay area, and now enjoy watching them raise their families in the Berkeley Hills and in Boston.

5. I work at the community Landmarks Society, where we small staff of five  maintain four gorgeous historic sites, including the chapel where my guy and I were married, and then 28 years later, where our daughter was married. One of these days I’ll write about how we ‘live history.’

6. I’m afraid the 7 things about myself are boring. I don’t jump out of airplanes, sail the world, run marathons in Tahiti, nor do I bike races between SF and LA (all experienced by some of my friends!). Instead, I teach creative writing classes, I write, I read, I play with grandbabies, I walk, I love my man, talk to my kids almost daily, and, oh yeah, ponder the secrets of the universe.

7. I have completed my suspense novel, THE RIGHT MAN, and am in the process of deciding to self-publish. The book is fun, fast-paced, and I can’t wait to share it with you all!

Now, 7 bloggers who inspire me, in no necessary order:

1. http://wendystrohm.wordpress.com/ (accessible poetry)

2. http://compassionateteachersf.blogspot.com/ (delightful musings on the ‘Zen’ life)

3. http://www.hencam.com/henblog/ (a delightful blog about life in the Little Pond Farm coop)

4. http://telltalesouls.com/blog/ (wonderful insights into writing a mother memoir, as well as great book reviews)

5. http://upwoods.wordpress.com/2012/04/19/shanghai-and-away/ (heartfelt writings about life in Lake Superior)

6. http://www.dailylifestuff.blogspot.com/ (beautiful daily life photos and comments of family and nature)

7. http://www.abbyofftherecord.com/2012/04/18/work-worth-and-figuring-out-what-really-matters/ (fun and honest stories on young motherhood and LIFE)

To my readers, THANK YOU for sharing my muse.

Other awards I’ve received this year:

award, versatile, writing