Workshop Write

Prompt: Make a list of all the exciting things that have happened to you this year. Don't worry about whether or not they'll seem exciting to someone else.

Went to the top of the Continental Divide on a snowmobile and brought back a little pine cone.
Tried skiing. Not so successfully.
Loved watching the clouds play among the mountains.
Taught my son how to drive. As if driving me crazy weren't enough.
Sold a writing article.
Had three stories make Honorable Mention in the Oklahoma Writer's Federation contest.
Gosh, it's been dull.
Survived my son's getting bit by a poisonous snake. He did too! LOL!
Learned how much medical costs have increased. Not a good "exciting."
Attended class to learn American Sign Language and have cultivated some new Deaf friendships.
My youngest son became taller than me. (Yes, I may be the shortest in the family, but I'm still the smartest!)
Was an attendant in my sister's wedding.
Finally got some regular traffic at my website. :)
Am writing more regularly than I think I ever have. Still have to work on that submitting thing, though.
Had a high school graduation party for my oldest son.
Watching him get his driver's license--passed the driving test on the first try.
Then he started college. :
My hubby sliced two fingers with a machete while "trimming" in the garden. They were splinted wrong and he's still trying to get them fixed.
My youngest broke his little toe. Thankfully I'm "doctor" enough to be able to hand that one.
Joined MomWriters and opened up a whole new world.
I'm taking a copywriting class. Always wanted to but never bit the bullet until now. My first assignment is off being critiqued.
Hubby found new steady employment.
I've learned that drinking plenty of water helps me be more alert...Boy is that exciting or what! LOL!
My son went to Europe and I have looked at tons of pictures and fought jealousy.
We put up a badmitton net.
I'm rediscovering my joy of cooking. I had lost that big time for a long time. If we didn't have to eat I'd have far more time and far more money.
I'm slowly but surely getting rid of stuff that I don't like, don't need, don't want or don't use.
I'm signed up for NaNoWriMo and hope to have a YA Novel largely drafted by the end of next month.
I've read some terrific books. YA books by Patricia Reilly Giff, contemporaries by Elizabeth Berg... I know there are others but they've slipped through the holes of my Swiss cheese brain.
To finish off the year...
I want to go on an eagle watch.
I want to see the Etruscan art exhibit before it leaves Oklahoma and the US.
I want to keep improving in ASL.
I want to finish three novels, two of which I currently have in different phases of completion.
I want to prepare entries to send off for this year's OWFI contest.
I have two weeks to send something in to ByLine's annual literary contest.

Just a start...

"The woman's not all there, Chief," the officer said as he glanced at her sideways.

"What do you mean, "not all there"? Anyone who jumps from a bridge is "not all there", Stewart."

"Well, she says she didn't exactly jump."

"And what does that mean? Are we going to spend the entire night speaking in riddles?"

"No, Sir. I mean, I have not desire to, Sir. It's just that we could barely understand her while her teeth were chattering so badly."

The Chief looked at her squarely, doing nothing to hide his assessment of her. She had managed to change into the dry clothes they had provided her, and she was swaddled in two or three blankets. It was hard to tell how many. One was brown, the other pink, and ocassionally there was a dark dusty rose visible that could have been a third color or shadows playing on the other two. Her hair was still uncombed, her skin as pale as could be, and she was holding a mug in her hands which still shook badly enough that he wondered about the wisdom of letting her hold it in the first place. Next thing they'd have a burn victim on their hands.

"Thanks, Stewart. I think I'll talk with her myself."

He hunched over as he approached her, trying to make himself look a little smaller and less intimidating.

"Hello. I'm Chief Evers. Are you warming up okay?"

"Y-y-es. Th-Thank you. The h-hot d-drink is helping a l-l-ot."

"Well, I'll just do some talking for awhile. This is kind of an unusual situation for us. We don't normally spend our evenings pulling young ladies out of the Small Bear River. It's a wonder anyone ever saw you, to be honest."

She nodded and managed a sip. The smell of chocolate drifted past him and he wondered what it would take to have someone bring him a cup of the stuff.

"Is that the way you wanted it? Did you want there to be no witnesses?"

She shook her head no.

"Why did you jump?"

"I d-didn't--"

"Mr. Chip says he saw you plain as day just jump up and off. Now you're saying he didn't see right?"

She nodded.

(oops, out of time.... I need to think on this anyway....what should happen next???? Hmmmm)

Oh, the prompt was: Cynthia Moore was supposed to be studying bridges, not jumping from them. Still, things are never quite what they seem.

A Classic Example of Why I Distrust "Experts"

This little tidbit is from Profnet, a place where journalists can contact experts on a variety of subject. I've subscribed to their Health round-up, as well as their Entertainment & Living Round-up and find some interesting information in them. Someday when I'm organized I'll write some articles, which is why I subscribed in the first place.

I got the latest Entertainment & Living issue on Friday, and was "delighted" to find this little tidbit from "expert" Robert Butterworth.

"THE PROFNET WIRE: ENTERTAINMENT & LIVING - Halloween/Thanksgiving
Oct. 15, 2004

**2. BEHAVIOR: FANATICS CREATE HYSTERIA IN CHILDREN DURING HALLOWEEN. ROBERT R BUTTERWORTH, psychologist at INTERNATIONAL TRAUMA ASSOCIATES: "Kids who celebrate Halloween have a new menace besides ghosts and goblins -- religious groups that want to ban Halloween, claiming that Oct. 31 is Satan's holiday and trick-or-treating is a sinful ritual. There is a nationwide trend to ban traditional Halloween costume parties in schools due to parental complaints. Parents who forbid a child to dress in costume and celebrate Halloween actually do more to increase a child's fear and preoccupation of the unknown than by participating in the festivities. Parents, by banning Halloween, give more credence to children's fantasies of scary creatures in the night." Butterworth: robert@drbutterworth.net Phone: +1-213-487-7339 (10/15/04)"

I so have a problem with this "expert" opinion.

I understand his concern about this idea that conscience matters should be imposed upon the whole of society--banning a common classroom function, etc., etc. That's not right. People who don't want to participate should just not participate and let everyone else do what it is that they want to do. I certainly don't think everyone should stop doing Halloween just because I don't. I also think that the world wouldn't be all that damaged if no one participated in Halloween. It's just not my job to mandate what people do. I can tell them why I don't, and if my logic is reasonable to them and they choose not to as well, great! If not, great! Just don't tell me I'm being a bad parent because of my choice. Sheesh.

What bothers me is that someone out there is going to believe this rubbish and then instantly whoever doesn't allow their children to participate in Halloween is doing psychological damage because some "expert" says so.

If he could just meet my children he would understand how absurd it is to label me--and incidentally many of my friends--as a "fanatic" who "creates hysteria" in my children because I choose not to participate in Halloween. WHAT ABSOLUTE HOGWASH !

Sorry, had to get that out. :)

I have taught my children what I have come to know and believe, and they choose to not celebrate for reasons of spiritual health and safety. Sure, when they were younger, it was what we required in our household, but there is no way I could stop my oldest from participating in Halloween if that's what he wanted to do. He doesn't want to.

Neither of my boys--now or in the past--have walked around in some kind of outlandish dread that something going bump in the night is going to skin them and eat them alive. For heaven's sake. According to this leap of logic, if I teach my kids not to cross a highway, I'm instilling in them hysteria about automobiles and crossing streets. Or if I say it's dangerous to play with matches, are they going to have a phobia about fire? Not at all. It's a parent's responsibility to teach their children where danger lies and how to be safe. I happen to believe there is a danger here--and anyone is free to agree or disagree, no problem--and I have taught my children why and how to protect themselves. Period. There's nothing hysterical or oppressive about it. It's an informed and logical choice, but I have a funny feeling that it would be tough to get this "expert" to change his opinion on this issue. But that's all it is. Simply an opinion that from my perspective has little basis in fact.

End of rant, I guess. Hope you'll forgive me. At least now I'm laughing. When I first read it, I was just steamed. :)