Monday, September 15, 2014

the perfect one

Perfection

I searched for perfection everywhere.
In the mountains, by the sea.
Near the desert and inside the valleys.
But never, ever, did I find perfection,
Until the day, I found, 
And fell, in love, 
with you.

-by Lindsey Unger

An Ode to Chocolate!

An Ode to Chocolate!

Chocolate, chocolate
Everywhere.
In my hair, and on the chair
but I don't care.....
You're there.

-by Lindsey Unger

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Writers

Here is a great quote my sister shared with me today.

“A writer - and, I believe, generally all persons - must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art.”
-Jorge Luis Borges

When I consider that, the list of experiences is endless for me.  Cancer, Death, life, Divorce, childbirth, the first time I learned to ride a bike, and the most recent time I relearned to ride a bike.  High School, College, finding a job, losing a job, discovering life again through the eyes of a child, and being loved through the hardest moments of my life.

Life truly has its' ups and downs, and it is within those valleys and mountains we find the things that shape us.  If you're a writer, good luck to you today as you discover your inspiration, and may you be inspired with the great, and the bad, things you have gone through in your life.

Friday, August 9, 2013

The Happy, Busy, Bumble Bee! (Writing Sample #1)





"Once Upon a Time", just before sunset, a key was found that belonged to a long forgotten lock.  Sitting in the dirt beneath a large green tree, the key was rusty and weathered with knobs that were ready to fall off at any moment.

While gathering pollen a happy, little bumble bee found the key left on the ground outside of a tree, inside a weathered footprint.  Tenderly examining the key, the bee assured its' safety within the strange groove and quickly flew to his hive to get some honey.

Fluttering back minutes later, the happy bee struggled to carry a small portion of his precious life's work.  Landing next to the key the bee gently lathered the knobs back onto the stem of the key with some partially formed honey.  Exhausted from his new work, the happy bee settled on the ground to rest and hummed a message back to his hive, "I'll be back soon".

The sun was touching the horizon when the happy little bumble bee looked up into the sky.  A tender branch came fluttering down and landed next to the key.  Wrapping it around the hole at the end of the key, the bee tied a knot and began to pull the key from its' treasured spot inside the ground.

Tugging and flapping his wings, with all his might, the key refused to budge.  Working hard through the night, the bee began to make slow progress pulling the key from the ground.  Taking a break to rest for a few minutes, the bee looked up into the sky and saw clouds drifting across the moon, making it look like a mask.  Worried it was a bad omen, the bee flapped his wings and quickly returned to his task.

Suddenly, gentle raindrops fell from the sky, and moistened the ground, loosening the key.  Moving faster, the bee flapped his wings harder to remove the key.  Ensuring he would not be trapped outside for the night with wet wings, the bee finally tugged the key out and laid it against the base of the tree.  Rushing back to his warm hive, he rested, and waited for the storm to stop.

At last, around noon the next day, the happy, little bee was finally able to leave his little hive and return to the key.  The branch had come loose, but the key was still close to where it had been left.  Grasping the branch, the bee began to tug the key just above the surface of the ground.

Struggling, he pulled the key to the edge of a rock and dove into the narrow cave beneath it.  Once inside he had no idea where to go until the old key began to glow.  Lighting up the dark, the lock glowed in response startling the bee who dropped the key.  Instantly the light went out.  Spinning, flapping in circles, the scent of honey finally led the bee back to his rusty, old key.  Instantly the dark lit up again as the bee grasped the key, dragging it towards the lock.

Lifting up off of the ground, the key hovered in the air and began to float towards the lock.  Gently colliding with the tumblers inside, the click of the old lock vibrated and resonated against the base of the rock and threw the bee back towards the opening.  Wiping wet dirt from his face and flicking it from his wings, the bee hurried back to the lock to see what waited just beyond the door.

Carefully moving through the doorway he found a set of three doors labeled "1", "3", and "5".  Glowing in the dark, the key lifted up off of the ground and began to glide towards door number 5.  Sliding it, the lock turned opening the door to reveal an enormous vault full of freshly made honey.


A small alteration to the rules.

I'm using this game to develop my writing skills, and so I have altered the rules a little to help me expand my skills as a writer.

My rules are that:
1.  I am taking what seems to be the most dominant symbol in the group, making it the start of the "Once Upon A Time".
2.  Picking my theme from the dice.
3.  Then using the rest to add to my story.
4.  Have fun, and make it as creative as possible!

Friday, August 2, 2013

Rory's Story Cubes - www.storycubes.com

One of my favorite ways to expand my skills while writing is to play the game Rory's Story Cubes.  I found it while shopping at a local grocery store and being a writer at heart, I was thrilled by its' contents!

Picture #1:  A picture of the bag the game pieces are stored inside of, 
and the description of the game which comes with it.


Picture #2:  The directions for how to play the game. 



Picture #3:  A sample picture of what the cubes look like.  
They are fairly easy to read and decipher.



The game consists of following only three simple rules, and then leaves the rest up to your imagination.

THE RULES:
1.  Roll all nine cubes.  Pick only one that will be the starting image for your story.  Start the story with "Once upon a time".  For example:  "Once upon a time the turtle...."
2.  Roll all 9 cubes again, and then tie them into a theme that the entire group picks, which your story will be based upon.  For example:  animals, reptiles, magic, etc.
3.  Divide the cubes evenly.  Let each person take a turn by rolling their cube, and then using the new picture that results from that roll, to add to the story until all 9 cubes have been rolled a third time.

So, in a nutshell, after starting the game with "Once upon a time" and adding your first cube and theme, then you add to the game/story further by incorporating whatever image you roll on your dice.  Be prepared to have a lot of fun challenging your imagination and exploring your creativity!

A word of caution though that playing the game can turn into a Game of Telephone (Chinese Whispers), where you aren't sure if the ending will sound like the beginning or not, but that can be avoided by remembering to pick a theme. Choosing a theme helps everyone playing the game stay focused in terms of what they are allowed to talk about and where the story can go.  Listen carefully to each other and pay attention to what others are adding to the story, so that what you contribute helps everyone have fun and create a great story!

In terms of storage, the game pieces are easy to store and keep track of.  The images shown above display an orange bag which holds all of the cubes and the rules.  It all stores nicely on a shelf and can easily fit into a pocket or purse if you need to transport them somewhere.  The cubes are easy to read, and hold a variety of images which can be interpreted to have many different meanings as is seen in the third image above.

See http://www.storycubes.com/ to find out more about the game!