Make Me Think Monday Archives - Page 35 of 35

8 10, 2012

My Alexander Day and Small Town Love

By judythemorgan|2021-10-07T07:52:42-05:00October 8th, 2012|Make Me Think Monday, writer, writing|4 Comments

I’m having an Alexander day. A terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day where nothing goes right.

I’m sure you’ve had those days too, but you may not be familiar with the term Alexander day.

If not, you HAVE to read, Judith Voirst’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. It’s a delightful children’s book that will warm your adult heart. Click on the cover to read more.

Like Alexander, I must decide what to do with this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

I could grump and get nowhere with my editing or…

since I believe action can alter attitude,

I’m choosing to blog about a recent experience in a wonderful little Panhandle city called Clarendon.

For the non-Texan blog readers that would be the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The part that looks like the handle of a pan.

Panhandle counties

On our travels between Houston and Colorado, we’ve gone through Clarendon on US 287 many, many times. Not a big city. The population is under two thousand. It’s home to Clarendon College (established 1898), the oldest center of higher education in the Texas Panhandle.

On our most recent trip through, I was having another Alexander day. This time because I had strep throat. The penicillin hadn’t fully kicked in so I was feeling pretty rotten.

We arrived in Clarendon late – 7:30 p.m. – and hungry. For all you city dwellers who think that isn’t late, small towns tend to roll up the sidewalks early.

We saw a sign for the Clarendon Steakhouse and pulled in praying it would be open. I was hoping the buffet had some soup that would soothe my very raw throat.

The building is a former grocery store converted to a restaurant with funny cowboys on the windows and friendly people inside. Very friendly and very kind people.

When we went inside, the place was about empty and the buffet was bare. My hopes sank. They were closed.

A waitress, in an apron that Vera Bradley would give her eye tooth to claim, greeted us. Turns out the waitress’ grandmother made her apron. I asked.

I explained how we were passing through, tired of driving, hungry, and really wanted some soup. Okay, I admit I shared more detail than necessary, but I am a storyteller.

She walked us to a back table to check with the owner whose name was Mary. I think. Remember I was not having a good day and that affected my memory.

Mary pointed to her husband’s soup bowl filled with the most delicious-looking chicken soup I’d ever seen. I know I looked a bit peaked and I must have drooled because Mary said she had enough for a couple of bowls.

She directed us to the “non-smoking” section. A booth at the store window under a ceiling fan. (to disperse cigarette smoke)

Sitting in the next booth was Fred Gray, a local columnist for The Clarendon Enterprise. We shared writing stories. He even went next door to the newspaper office for old editions so we could read his “The Quick, the Dead and Fred” column. Check out some of his columns in the newspaper’s online edition you’ll enjoy them.

Naturally, I shared my business card with my website and told him all about my writing. And, I’d love for you to check out my Judythe Morgan books page. :-)

Sarah, a lovely young Clarendon High School student, served as our waitress. She was excited and bubbly about her coming class trip to Washington, D.C. Needless to say, we gave her a generous tip to go toward her expenses.

Suddenly our tiring, drive of 540 miles with another 145 more to go before we stopped had become a pleasant visit with friendly people and delicious down-home chicken soup.

And Mary wouldn’t let us pay for our dinner! Isn’t small-town America wonderful?

Sharing has helped refuel my creative juices and improved my terrible, horrible, really bad day dramatically. I’m back to editing.

YOUR TURN: What about you? How do you combat a really bad, terrible, horrible day?

Remember writing book reports?

By judythemorgan|2022-05-14T05:57:26-05:00May 16th, 2012|Book Review, Make Me Think Monday, writer, writing|7 Comments

I loved writing book reports when I was in school. Still do after a fashion.

Voracious reader that I am, I love to tell others about great books I read. So I’m constantly giving oral book reports in the form of “Have you read such and such?”

I also post reviews for the books I really, really love on review sites and at e-retailers.

That’s so important. All reviews help author sales. It doesn’t matter whether the review is good or bad.

People often say they don’t know how to write a review. It really isn’t difficult. A review doesn’t have to be long or detailed like those book reports for school. Even a sentence or two can convey whether you liked a book or didn’t.

Here are some suggestions:

“This story was well-told. I fell in love with the hero on page 2.”

“Always pleased with stories by this author.”

“Predictable, but still a good read.”

“So disappointed. Not up to her/his usual standard.”

If you’re still nervous about actually posting a review on Amazon. Check out this video I found by Douglas Goldstein. It demonstrates exactly how to post a review for a book.

ONE WORD WEDNESDAY

By judythemorgan|2022-01-23T11:59:46-06:00February 29th, 2012|Make Me Think Monday, one word Wednesday, Procrastination, resistance to writing, writing|30 Comments

Today’s word is PROCRASTINATION

Dictionary.com defines procrastination as the act or habit of procrastinating, or putting off or delaying, especially something requiring immediate attention

I really, really hate when a definition uses the word, don’t you? Still the meaning is very clear — putting off something.

Is procrastination deliberate or subconscious?

Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art calls procrastination a form of resistance. He believes creative types face lots of resistance and offers inspiration to overcome that resistance. If you don’t own a copy of Pressfield’s book you should, it’s gotten me over more than one bumpy writing slowdown. Btw, I don’t get any kickback.

I’m not sure what to call procrastination, but I know it’s a disease shared by too many writers, myself included. And, procrastination is a clever enemy.

Half the time, Mr. P (aka procrastination) disguises himself as very worthy endeavors like
A writer’s meeting to get a writer fix
A computer game to “clear your head”
A movie for “research”
Social media is one of Mr. P’s favorite tactics. Who among us doesn’t find Twitter or FB or web surfing sucking precious time from our day?

My favorite delay is a power nap to refresh my brain’s hard drive. Naps may work, but am I really just giving in to procrastination’s subtle ways when fifteen minutes slides into an hour or two?

Writing is hard work. A solitary work. Those two facts alone stall too many of us and allow Mr. P’s power to succeed.

“Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases and its toll on success and happiness is heavy.” ~Wayne Dyer

So how do we cure the culprit that steals our words from the page?

Ali Luke in her blog How to Stop Procrastinating and Start Writing suggests four steps.

Great hints are offered on How to Stop Procrastinating

For me, and maybe other writers, I shoo Mr. P away by putting my butt in the chair and W-R-I-T-I-N-G every day whether I feel like it or not, whether what I write is worthy of a Hemingway or not. It works for me. What works for you?

As part of One Word Wednesday, I want to play a game I used when teaching spelling—writing a sentence with the word. Leave your sentence in a comment. No grading involved just for fun.

Dictionary.com suggests: She was smart, but her constant procrastination led her to be late with almost every assignment.

How would you use PROCRASTINATION in a sentence?