Funny thing about voice. What you think you sound like and what you actually sound like are two com-plete-ly different things. You know what I’m talking about if you’ve ever listened to yourself recorded. And in the age of voice mail, who hasn’t? Continue reading
Tag Archives: Writing
60 Days In: Still Blogging
In comparison to the length of time many writers have devoted to their blogs, mine is in its infancy. But since I never plan to birth a child, I’m going to consider it my baby, take a page from first-time parents everywhere, and celebrate Awkward Laughter’s milestones in months this first year.
Don’t worry. I won’t bore you with a post each time. I already skipped January. But this one, or more specifically, the 60-day mark jumped out at me.
Sixty days is:
- Twice as long as I spent training for my first 10K
- Ten times as long as my last vacation
- Sixty-plus times as long as my last bad date (although that one felt longer)
In my book, 60 days of sticking with anything that doesn’t pay my bills is something worth celebrating. Plus, I like any excuse to open a good bottle of wine.
I Can’t Make this Stuff Up!
There’s a reason I rarely write fiction. I struggle with “keeping it real” – the advice my middle-school teacher gave me years ago.
“Your ending seems a bit far-fetched,” she wrote in the margin. “Good fiction should be grounded in reality.”
Little did she know that my story was based on real life. I’d just tweaked the names, the setting and added a detail or two.
My recent trip overseas reminded me of how life can be stranger than fiction.
A recent awkward realization – When I had the idea for “Awkward Laughter” two years ago and reserved a domain name to support it, I made a typo. I bought Awkard Laughter (sans the 2nd “w”). &#%*@$!
Thankfully the site I wanted was still available, but definitely not one of my brighter moments and proof positive that I can’t edit myself.
(This Awkward Aside was inspired by Zero to Hero: 30 Days to a Better Blog’s Day 19: Publish a Post in a New-to-You Format.)
My Social-Publicize Dilemma
Activate a social network. That was the advice that came on day 18 of the Zero to Hero: 30 Days to a Better Blog challenge. And for the first time in this blogging adventure, my immediate reaction was “Nope! Not gonna do it.”
(A 90’s nod to Dana Carvey impersonating President George Bush, Sr.)
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Enough About Me, Let’s Talk About Me
Tell me if I’m alone here, but doesn’t blogging make you feel like you’ve fallen into some narcissistic rabbit hole? Perhaps it’s because my blog isn’t about cooking, DIY, travel, or any other topic in particular, but rather a random collection of anecdotes and musings by yours truly.
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Tale of a Nearly Naked Neighbor
Zero to Hero’s Day 4 challenge: Explore the Neighborhood, as intended, motivated me to check out and follow a handful of blogs that I hope will be interesting and inspiring. But it also got me thinking of all of the wonderfully quirky, and sometimes truly insane, “real” neighbors I’ve had over the years. Continue reading
Overcoming Writer’s Blah
A few weeks ago I committed to myself that this year I would dedicate a few hours a day, several days a week to writing for fun. Ha, what a joke! What I should have pledged is that I’d write regardless of how not fun it might feel on any given day.
Don’t get me wrong. I actually do enjoy writing a lot of the time. Continue reading
An Exercise in Discipline
Ok. True confessions time. My motivation for creating this blog comes from the fact that I can be a slacker (not to be confused with being lazy, which I’m not…most days).
But I am undisciplined, sometimes, even about things that I profess to love. In this case, writing.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to “be a writer.” That began in 1st grade with my first, simple, published work, “All about Spring.”
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- “All About Spring” page 1
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- “All About Spring” page 2
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- “All About Spring” page 3
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- “All About Spring” page 4
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Awkward Laughter 