My son's advice on reliable blogging

His words: "I say at least one incredibly deep thing a day. Just write that down and post it on your blog."

Done.

If only I had an invisible plane...

Sorry for the lapse in blogs, gentle readers, and thanks for your kind reminders to post. School starts for us next week, and I hope to do a better (if more succinct) job of posting here.

We're back from a week in Colorado and I've spent today blazing through emails, bills, laundry, and organizing my fall schedule. I also squeezed in an hour with my new Rosetta Stone software to catch up on French. My son's comment to my day's activities: "Wow. You're like Wonder Woman. Except Wonder Woman doesn't speak French."

So now I'm singing the falsetto "Wonder Woman" theme song, and wishing I had those fabulous golden bracelets...

Summer Reading: Pores and Flies

School's out, for me anyway, and I'm into my self-directed summer reading program. Just finished Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. My edition has a great author interview at the end--he's cranky, but in a good way.

One of my favorite sections in the novel is about writing:

"The more pores, the more truthfully recorded details of life per square inch you can get on a sheet of paper, the more 'literary' you are. That's my definition anyway. Telling detail. Fresh detail. The good writers touch life often. The mediocre ones run a quick hand over her. The bad ones rape her and leave her for the flies."

Here's to touching life and making pores.

Chihuahuapalooza

Meet Zorro and Rosie, expressing themselves in their favorite pastime.



Speaking of dogs, I saw the fabulous "Wendy and Lucy" last night and I'm still not over it. Sniff.

Question: Favorite dog movie ever?

Happy Birthday, Toni Morrison

Today is Toni Morrison's birthday (thanks for the reminder Writer's Almanac.) Here's what they had to say about one of my favorite authors:

It's the birthday of Toni Morrison, born in Lorain, Ohio (1931). She started writing when she was in her thirties, unhappily married, working as an editor, and raising two children. She said, "It was as though I had nothing left but my imagination. I wrote like someone with a dirty habit. Secretly. Compulsively. Slyly." She went on to write nine novels, including The Bluest Eye (1969), Song of Solomon (1977), Beloved (1987), and in 2008, A Mercy. In 1993, she won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Morrison's latest novel, by the way, is worthy of the buzz. On writing, I especially like her simile: I wrote like someone with a dirty habit.

Makes me wonder...what or who do I write like? What modifiers would I apply? How about you?

5 Things I Did This Weekend

I finally took the red pill and joined Facebook and have enjoyed catching up with old and new friends. If you're on FB (a cool acronym which, I've learned, stands for FaceBook), come see me.

Also, if you're on Facebook, you've probably been inundated with requests for 25 Things about You. That seems like a pretty exhaustive list to me, so instead here are 5 Things I Did This Weekend, in no particular order.

1. Read William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. May be my favorite Faulkner novel yet. He allegedly wrote it in six weeks and announced that he intended to write a tour de force. He succeeded.

2. Ate Almond Roca candy. One of my favorite Valentine's treats. The chocolate comes wrapped in these little gold foils. Fancy!

3. Knitted an irregular-shaped kitchen towel. I was shooting for square; it turned out rectangular. Totally irritating, because it had this wierd pattern and took much longer than it should have. Especially for something that's meant to wipe countertops.

4. Saw Elvis at Half Price Books. He had jet black hair, gray roots, those fabulous alcoholic farmer glasses, and was purchasing one of his own albums. He was trying to be incognito, but I'm no idiot.

5. Put together a style exam for my technical writing class. Passive voice + dangling modifiers + faulty word choice = tons o' weekend fun. Still, I amuse myself by creating truly awful, and sometimes funny, sentences for my students. I mean, if you've got to make the grade, you might as well have a good time.

Your turn. Want to share a quick 5 things?

Elvis and Travis

Happy Birthday to the late (allegedly) Elvis Presley. While I'm not a huge Elvis fan, he did write one of my favorite songs -- "Always on My Mind." Willie Nelson's version, in my opinion, is the best. Heartwrenching and true.

Speaking of heartwrenching, my thoughts and prayers are with my Amarillo friend and blogging icon, Travis Erwin. He lost his home to a fire this week. He and his family survived without injury, for which I thank God. If you know Travis, or simply want to express a kindness or two, please stop by his blog.

If you want to help the Erwins (and you will after reading his poignant account of the fire), please visit Habitat for Travis. Every little bit counts.