Birthday Wishes and a Title

The first thing I want to do today is to send fabulous birthday wishes to "The Kid" from Rindy Mae.  Happy Birthday!!!!

The second thing I want to do is to thank "The Kid" for giving us a title for the poem from the other day.

Whoosh, Whoosh, Go The Waves

Whoosh. Whoosh.  

Wobbly teal waves somersaulting. 

Rolling.  Rolling.

Stumbling, a little dizzy.

Whoa. Whoa.

Bumping into the sand.  Pardon me.

Giggling.  Giggling.  

Self-consciously sneaking back out.

Whoosh. Whoosh.

Fresh New 2013

There is something so fresh and promising about a new year.  You can look over your shoulder and see the past year being erased leaving you with a clean unmarred surface in front of you on which to put your dreams.

Just as so many other people do, I want to accomplish things this year.  Some happiness things, some diet and exercise things, and some writing things.

One of the goals I have under the happiness category is to nurture my relationships.  I am getting help with this goal by Gretchen Rubin who wrote The Happiness Project and Happier at Home.  She is having a 21-day relationship challenge and you can sign up for her daily resolution by email.  You can jump in any time so don't be shy.

The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin

Under the health category, I am getting a thrice daily (isn't that a funny word, thrice?) walk with Libby which is taking care of my exercise needs for the moment (a daily yoga practise will be added in the near future as well).  I am also doing a bunch of little things that I hope will turn into habits:  drinking a glass of lemon water first thing; adding a green smoothie as lunch or a snack daily; refraining from that beloved second glass of wine after dinner; and, maintaining my current weight.  :)

Libby

I found a great writing tips resource to help with the writing resolution.  Dana Sitar is a freelance journalist and indie author.  She is the brains behind the blog DIY Writing and the author of the book "A Writer's Bucket List" that is available now for pre-order and for sale starting on February 5th.

This book has 99 writing suggestions, many of them things I had not ever thought about.  I'm committed to improving my writing quality and quantity, and her book is already helping.  I've started with the suggestion to write poetry.  I am so far shocked at how difficult this is.  Do you write poetry?  I would love to read one of your pieces.

This is what I came up with for my first attempt.  One of my writing muses (The Kid from Rindy Mae) suggested the theme:  "ocean".  So here goes.

Whoosh. Whoosh.  

Wobbly teal waves somersaulting. 

Rolling.  Rolling.

Stumbling, a little dizzy.

Whoa. Whoa.

Bumping into the sand.  Pardon me.

Giggling.  Giggling.  

Self-consciously sneaking back out.

Whoosh. Whoosh.

I always find titles to be the hardest part of any writing.  Would you like to suggest a title for the poem?

Little Fish Big Fish

This little story was inspired by "This is Not My Hat" by Jon Klassen which is super cute.

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Have you ever heard of that story about the little fish that stole the big fish's hat?  Apparently, the little fish is a bit of an imp.  Do you know what an imp is?  Well I haven't looked it up or anything, but I think that an imp is a little scoundrel, somebody who is always into mischief.

So this little fish is an imp and he has the big fish's hat.  I was wondering about that.  I was wondering what the big fish was going to do without the hat.  Was he just wearing it to be fashionable?  Or maybe did his head get cold in the freezing bottom of the ocean?  If he wore the hat because his head got cold, then man oh man, he was going to need to do something else to keep his head warm.

Then I thought, well what in the world could he do to keep his head warm?  Hmmmm.  Well, he could swim up closer to the surface of the water and stick his head into a sunbeam, I thought.  But he probably wouldn't want to leave his family and friends just to get his head warm.

So, I thought again.

Well, maybe he could get a sock and put THAT on his head instead of the hat.  Um, that would look pretty ridiculous.  I don't know if this big fish was the type of fish to care what the other fish thought about him, but if he was, oh boy, he was going to feel silly with a sock on his head, I thought.

So, I thought again.

Hmm,...let's see,..I suppose that he could grow some hair.  ha ha Have you ever seen a fish with hair on his head?  I haven't and I have seen an awful lot of fish in my time.  But if he were going to grow hair, what colour do you think it would be?  And do you think it would be curly or straight?  Would it be long or short?  I would guess that his hair would be,........uum,........super short, very dark purple and perfectly straight.  Kind of like an army guy.  Oh yeah, a scary army guy.  But really, we all know that fish don't grow hair.

So I thought again.

I thought and I thought but I couldn't come up with anything else that the big fish could do to keep his head warm.  Can you think of anything else?  It's okay if we can't think of something.  Do you want to know why?

Because that little fish got home with this strange hat and his mamma fish said, "Little fish, I know that hat isn't yours, so you better swim right back to where you found it and give it back."

And that's what little fish did.  Now big fish has his hat back and we can think about other things.