“The best reaction to a rejection slip is a sort of wild-eyed madness, an evil grin, and sitting yourself in front of the keyboard muttering, ‘Okay, you bastards. Try rejecting this!’ and then writing something so unbelievably brilliant that all other writers will disembowel themselves with their pens upon reading it because there’s nothing left to write. Because the rejection slips will arrive. And, if the books are published, then you can pretty much guarantee that bad reviews will be as well. And you’ll need to learn how to shrug and keep going. Or you stop, and get a real job.” –Neil Gaiman
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Habitually Odd
Do you have any odd or quirky habits? I think we all do things that seem normal in our everyday lives, but would be viewed as strange if anyone else — say on the Internet — saw us do them. For example, I cut my doughnuts into 12 equal pieces. And I eat each piece with a fork. I also rip the tabs off of pop cans, toss salt over my shoulder when the shaker falls and come to a complete stop at stop signs, even when there’s no other car for miles.
Speaking of the Internet and all its oddness…
About a week ago, my friend David posted a story on his Facebook feed that was titled “Facebook Makes Us Sadder And Less Satisfied, Study Finds.” David and I have known each other for about 10 years. However, we’ve never actually met in person. Our entire relationship has taken place online, first on Livejournal, then in email and now on Facebook.
The very fact that I know David, and his lovely wife Michelle (who I believe David met online), and the fact that he knows me and my husband M (whom I met online) shows that the Internet is a wonderful place for social interaction. Yet according to this article, which is based on a new University of Michigan study, using Facebook leads to declines in “moment-to-moment happiness and overall life satisfaction.”
After reading the story, I sparked a conversation with David online, and we engaged in a back and forth discussion about the study’s various merits and deficiencies. This text-based chat was quite enjoyable because it gave me the opportunity to talk with someone I’ve always liked (even though we’ve never met).
David and I could not have had that chat in person; we live 1,415 miles apart. Phone calls are even more difficult, due to the differences in our schedules. So without Facebook, or some other social network, we would not have been able to engage each other in this manner. That would have made me very unhappy.
Or perhaps the study is right, and I’m just odd.
Photo by Scott Ableman. Used with permission.
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Harvest 2013
It’s harvest time in the Walker-Weir household. Lots of veg and herbs to process for winter.
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My Bucket List v2.0
Here are the 50 things I want to do before I die (in no particular order):
1. Write and publish at least a dozen novels
2. Go on a cemetery tour of New Orleans
3. Attend the Academy Awards
4. See the aurora borealis
5. Visit New Zealand
6. Be a guest on “Fresh Air”
7. Write/syndicate a column
8. Play the piano
9. Learn to fight
10. Become fluent in French, German, Scottish Gaelic, Italian and ASL
11. Get at least three more tattoos
12. Write a screenplay that’s produced into a Hollywood film
13. Host a radio show/podcast/interview program
14. Go on a whale watching tour – and see a whale
15. Take a hot air balloon ride over something beautiful
16. See the earth from outer space
17. Tour the Pyramids in Egypt
18. Live in a house with an ocean view
19. Hit the best-seller list
20. Take a cruise around the world
21. Buy and complete a Bob Ross paint set
22. Spend Samhain on a moonlit beach next to a bonfire
23. Have coffee with Henry Rollins
24. Become a top-notch cook/baker
25. Win the lottery
26. Create a tour of a historic boneyard
27. Become a better photographer
28. Do the castle tour through the Black Forest
29. Get my body into optimum shape
30. Launch a podcast
31. Launch a wire service
32. Discover treasure (perhaps a rare and priceless book once thought to be “lost”)
33. Finish/publish the Belva bio
34. Plant a fruit tree and eat what it produces
35. Win a bake-off
36. Celebrate my 50th wedding anniversary
37. Receive a “genius grant” from the MacArthur Fellows Program
38. Fully organize and catalog my library
39. Move to Scotland
40. Build our dream home(s)
41. Own a Manhattan townhouse
42. Work on a movie
43. Change the world for the better
44. Appear in a photograph taken by Annie Leibovitz
45. Live a life worthy of being the subject of a profile by Chris Jones
46. Live a life worthy of doing a Not My Job segment on “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me”
47. Live a life worthy of an obituary in The New York Times
48. Become immortal
49. If immortality is not an option, then live a healthy life until at least 104
50. Appear in a quote book of famous (and awesome) last words
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Introducing The 10th Muse
“Be thou the tenth muse ten times more in worth
Than those old nine which rhymers invocate
And he that calls on thee let him bring forth
Eternal numbers to outlive long date
If my slight muse do please these curious days
The pain be mine but thine shall be the praise.”
–William Shakespeare, Sonnet 38We all get stuck for writing ideas sometimes. Light knows I do. So, as a way to encourage more blogging (for myself and others), I’ve created a mailing list that will present one or two writing prompts a week. On Mondays, an email will be sent to the list highlighting everyone’s prompt-related blog posts.
If you’re interested in joining, know this: You are not required to blog about every prompt. And there is no set word limit, topic, genre or style. The mailing list is simply a way to kickstart your muse every once in a while.
To subscribe send an e-mail to 10thmuse-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
Photo by ikitje