English to Text Dictionary?

    I was trying to read a text message from my nephew and was flabbergasted. I could not understand what he was telling me. I had to ask my daughter what the text said. I think it would be easier to grab a German to English dictionary and travel there to be understood than to understand teen-texts.
    It got me to wondering about the trend. what is the cause? One person I talked to suggested that it is just a by product of our faster electronic world. I hope that is not the case. Clear concise written communication is very vital.  I try to be as hip as the next person but trends and slang change almost as fast as it becomes popular. It is no longer groovy being groovy.
    I will keep up with new trends because I find them fascinating. It helps to bridge the generation gap when we try to understand each other. I do believe it would be easier with a translation dictionary of Text to English, so if there is one how there help out an old grandpaw and let me know.
   

Have you ever hit that wall?

    Have you ever sat down to write and NOTHING??? You just can not get those creative juices flowing, or worst yet you get a great idea for story and life intrudes. Next thing you know the idea has disappeared and BAM you hit the wall. Oh what do you do?? I try writing prompt exercises. There are a few good books that contain writing exercises out there. They offer exercises such as : You are 12 years old and the circus is in town. Your parents will not let you go; so you ??
    These exercises can be fun and often get you to thinking of something other than the wall and next thing you know you have gotten around it.
    Another options of things to do is go over your notes (everyone keeps them right?) and do some free floating research online or at the library. Let's say you wrote a note about WWI veterans because you saw a article on the last surviving veteran passing away. You could research WWI and come up with many topics for stories. Just let yourself go.
    I also practice typing. My typing is horrible at about 10-15 words per minute. I have a program for my laptop so I occasionally practice typing. I have gotten slightly better and now use 2 hands instead of the  2 finger hunt and peek method.
    The important thing is I do something for the allotted time of writing to get the juices flowing or polish skills. Let me know what your methods of dealing with the wall are.

Point of View

When writing one of the most important factors is the point of view. Let us use an example of a street mugging. There are several points of view that can be used to write the story some are; 1: The mugger's view 2: The victim's view 3:  Companions view (either the mugger's or the victim's) 4: The police's view 5: Bystander's view. These are just a few and if you think you can come up with several more. You can also mix them for instance switch back and forth from the mugger's view to police's view. You can use the point of view to create story flow and develop your characters. The same incident (mugging) influences the story differently depending on your point of view. For practice come up with a scenario and look at it from several points of view. Have fun.

Sports Lit.

It is time for the Superbowl and it has got me to thinking. I remember as teenager reading lots of sports novels. They were generally aimed at the 12-17 boys and had inspirational messages about overcoming adversity. Today I see more true story  non-fictional works of sports literature. I plan on looking to see if there is still any new youth sports stories coming out for today's youth. I hope so because it was a cherished part of my early reading life. Did you read any youth sports when you were younger?? If so what were your favorites. Well it time for Superbowl party so have fun and GO GIANTS!!