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!!

Classic Literature still rocks after a hundred years.

I was at Barnes and Noble Bookstores and noticed a table dedicated to the classic literature books. I was looking at some titles; and remembered the enjoyment of "Huck Fin, Tom Sawyer, Dracula, Phantom Of the Opera, and Count of Monte Cristo" just to name a few. I decided to get The Count of Monte Cristo and have started reading it. I am enjoying it tremendously. I have not read some of the classics for over 25 years since I finished school; but now that I am re-reading The Count of Monte Cristo I am going  to change that. It gives me hope that just because something gets old it is not worthless.  I have a challenge; go to a bookstore and pick up a hardback classic. When you finish it donate it to your local library. I also want you all to let me know what classics you really enjoy.

Monsters oh my!!

There are all kind of "monsters" in literature. They range from the baby faced human killer to the sparkly faced vampire. Some monsters of legend go back millennium such as  Grendel in Beowulf. Some are recent creations such as "Lord Voldemort". No matter what type of monster the story has it is essential to the heroes journey. I doubt that a hero that just fought squirrels and bunnies would impress us; unless it was a bunch of man-eating zombie bunnies that were the size of Shetland ponies. The challenge is to create your monster and make us respect it!!  Who wants to be king or queen of monster creation well here is your chance.

Book Review: ""Heat Rises""

As a writer I am also an avid reader. My favorite T.V. show is what got me to reading the book Heat Rises. That show is Castle. The show is about the adventures of mystery writer Richard Castle who teams up with homicide detective Kate Beckett and her squad. He was given this perk because of his knowing the mayor. He helps Kate solve crimes and writes his new "heat series" of books based on her. Heat Rises is one of the books written by Castle. It is a fiction book written by the fictional character. This is a neat gimmick and the book written under the nom de plume of "Richard Castle" is well written. If you are a fan of the show "Castle" you will enjoy how it plays to the shows characters. If you have never seen the show you will enjoy it as a mystery series book. 

Foundling

Just went to visit my daughter and grandkids. It inspired me to come up with this writing prompt:

You hear a strange noise and when you look out your door you see a basket. Inside the basket is a baby.

Write a short short story of about 100-500 words. It can be any genre. Let us see what you can come up with and give honest critique to everyone.

Clean Limericks

Limericks are a simple form of poetry it has a rhyme set of a,a,b,b,a an example is:

Girls like to hang out at the mall,
Boys like to play football,
It may sound  really sappy,
But parents will be happy,
When kids give Grandma a phone call.

Forgive me I know that is not the best Limerick ever written but it gives you an idea of the form. Now most Limericks have evolved to funny and often profane rhymes. We all have heard of the twins from Nantucket....
Well the challenge is to write a Limerick with no profanity. It can be funny but does not have to be. How about a Love Limerick?? Valentines Day is around the corner. Let us Limerick.

Redraft

Writers dread it but it is a fact of life. Yes I am talking about redrafting your story. You have that great idea, you find your facts, you mold and create your story, you send it to the editor, and they reject it. Oh what to do?? Well you have to decide; do you give up or try to save the story. If you are totally convinced the story is great you may want to resubmit somewhere else, and many authors do. There are many tales of authors who received multiple rejection slips to finally have the story accepted. There are also many tales of rewrite after rewrite until the story is a brilliant and polished cut gem. With practice we authors learn whether we need to keep polishing the stone or if it is perfect and we just need to find a new buyer. NEWS ALERT this blog is like that story. I am busy polishing it trying to create a gem worthy of wonder. I love literature of all kinds and especially enjoy seeing new works. Well with your help we will polish this stone of a blog and create a gem.