EXERCISE: I have in my hand...

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting January 29, 2014

A note, written some time ago. It lists:

Surprise/Attention
Selection
Metaphor
Lawrence of Arabia
Baking Soda

I'm not quite sure what I was doing -- I suspect I was thinking about topics for a class, and perhaps the baking soda was what I needed to pick up at the store? But how did Lawrence of Arabia get in there? Anyway, your task, should you choose to accept it, is to do something with this list. A poetry, a story, a whimsy? Sure!

Just write.

EXERCISE: 6x6 Quote?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original Posting Feb. 3, 2014

Here you go. Take any part of this, and have at it! Remember, only two more weeks to go in our 6x6 challenge (write a story every week, by Sunday!).

"My recipe for dealing with anger and frustration: set the kitchen timer for twenty minutes, cry, rant, and rave, and at the sound of the bell, simmer down and go about business as usual." Phyllis Diller

>From http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/bell.html#uCTUROHqZhHJa1xY.99

Anger and frustration? How to handle them? Timed tantrums? Changing mood based on bells? Whatever this quote says to you, use it!

Take your pick, and go!
Write!

FILL: Spling Wards?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original Posting Feb. 4, 2014

I happened to notice a shopping bag from a dress store here in Japan recently that had this rather interesting set of English words printed on it. I finally decided it was a kind of bilingual crossword puzzle. You might enjoy trying to figure out just what they thought they were saying:

of ter splitary SUMMERS
and false bloors blighted

Lave slowly comes
Snow inguiring through

frozen water
through night
like stars each flke
steady readving tgrough

Yes, I checked the spelling. ter splitary, bloors, Lave, inguiring, flke, readving, and that final tgrough.

And if you are really interested, over here there is a blog posting http://theculturemuncher.com/2012/05/25/ofter-splitary-summers-and-false-bloors-blighted/ indicating the real poem behind it. And the bag came by way of Korea? Oh, what a twisted linguistic web we weave...

Fascinating.