Cracked Writing Exercise

Okay, because apparently I no longer need sleep like the rest of you mortals, I'm still awake.  Never mind that I got less than 6 hours of sleep last night, and tomorrow is going to be a long day that ends in roller coasters. (Literally - Storm Runner, Fahrenheit, Great Bear, I am coming for YOU!)  I'm still awake and since I devoted at least an hour to Angry Birds Friends, that means I have to write a blog.  As punishment. Or something.

So I read this article 5 Writing Exercises That Will Make You More Creative on Cracked.com.  I'm wearing my NaNoWriMo T-shirt today.  And it has occurred to me that November is just a little over 3 months away.  I'm going to take exercise 3 from the article - Abandon Your Story - and do that.  I'm going to just write a little something, the start of an idea, that will never go anywhere and then NOT clutter up my head in November.  When I may be writing a follow-up to Oubliette anyway, which would be the story of two of the secondary characters, Ben and Mia. 

Little Woman, Big Dog

"Miranda, why do I always have to walk Butch and you get to walk Cassidy?   I love Butchie, he's a good little dog - oh yes you are, " Mike said, stopping to rub the miniature Doberman Pinscher's tummy, "but I think the neighbors are laughing at us."

Miranda looked at him.  She was so tired of him bringing this up.  Yeah, she supposed it must look comical to see a petite blonde woman walking a full sized Doberman alongside a broad shouldered, athletic-looking man walking a miniature version of the same dog.  She could try to explain again the special bond between her and Cassidy.  She had gotten him when he was just a puppy and refused to let the breeder crop his beautiful soft ears.  Now he had the long legs and thin body the breed was noted for, but the adorable ears of a Dachshund.  She had him long before Mike came along, and sometimes in the dark of the night suspected he would be her companion after Mike was gone.  She could tell him again how Cassidy had protected her during a home invasion, or never let her leave for a jog by herself.  That Cassidy was her dog, and he wasn't walking with anyone but her. 

She could try all that, or she could let him walk Cassidy and let Cassidy tell him, in his own special doggie way. 

And that's all folks!!

On my way!

Tonight one of the Zumba Fitness Instructors at Golds Gym Linglestown gave me the opportunity to teach a song during her class. I was nervous all day, and I did make one mistake during the song, but otherwise it went very well. The song was En Sus Marcas Listos Fuera. I did the live version of the choreography from the DVD I got when I completed my Zumba Basic 1 training. I had fun, and now I'm pumped to do it again tomorrow. I was especially glad that the woman who always does the loudest "Woop woop!" and hollers along with the lyrics was there. The chorus of the song has this great "What, what, what!" followed by a drawn out "Yeeaaaah!" that was awesome to hear people shouting out while we were all dancing.

I want to work on some more of my own choreography. I still need to finish the cool down song I've been working on (Baby Got Back by Jonathan Coulton) And I need to finish the routine for Say Hey I Love You by Michael Franti and the Spearheads. - I love this song, Keely and I used to dance around the basement to it when I moved back home for while. 

I'm very excited and grateful for the opportunity to try teaching out and eager to teach more. I'm so glad the other people I've met in the Zumba Fitness community here in Central PA have been so kind and welcoming.  Say Hey, I Love You, Zumba!

Quietly, She begins to blog again

I was reading a great blog yesterday, Crappy Pictures - Illustrated with Crappy Pictures by Amber Dusick. What started as a place for a new mom to vent and be creative led to a book deal, a Crappy Store and getting to meet other clever authors and Moms. But it's gotta be a challenge being a full-time Mom and taking the time to write every single day. I've struggled with it with this blog, which started off with such good intentions (It is called the Daily Rite, oops).

So let's try this again... without any fanfare or expectations.