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?