Creativity

Ever need a spark of creativity? Do you ever feel like you want to write something, but have no idea what to write about? I have this problem all the time, and I was trying to think of some way to get rid of this problem. Then I had an idea (of course) and I couldn't wait to post about it.

I want to post prompts every once in a while, probably Fridays. I am hoping all of you will take the prompt and write something with it. So, here is today's prompt:

Take this nursery rhyme and turn it into a short story.

Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.

You can change anything except the names and the basic plot. You can make it a comedy, a tragedy, a moral story. You can keep the meter and rhyming or throw those to the wind and just write a short story. If you take this challenge, please leave a comment and let me know!

Good Luck!

Masterpiece by Elise Broach

This is the first book I have read with a beetle as the main character, and I fell in love with it almost immediately. One think I liked about the story was that the beetles could talk to each other, but not directly to humans. They could understand humans, but not verbally communicate back. I find it a little hard to get into a book with animals that talk to humans in an everyday setting. I also liked Broach's writing style. It was very... familiar, and easy to read.

Marvin has some unusual talents. All the beetles know of his unique swimming ability, and praise him for it, but not even he knows of his artistic abilities. That is until he draws a picture with James' ink set. One discovery leads to another, and soon Marvin is doing many things he never would have dreamed about doing before. Some of these things were against 'the rules', but if he had not taken that field trip to the museum, he never would have found out about Duer, and the art thefts... What can one beetle and a human friend do, anyway?

Give Me Your Eyes

The embeding was disabled for this song, so if you'd like to watch "give me your eyes" by Brandon Heath follow this link.

The Swing

This it 'The Swing' by impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir was finished i 1871. This artist was born February 25th, 1841 in France.

Blog Improvement Project

I have signed up to participate in 2009 Blog Improvement Project, and I am very excited. I feel like there is a lot of improving I can do, and that this is just the motivation and guidance I needed. I have wanted to update and 'improve' in general, and just didn't know how. I needed a push, and Kim, over at Sophisticated Dorkiness, has given it to me and many other bloggers.

A little about the project: It is a year long project aimed at making each blog better. There is no obligation to participate in each challenge, and you can customize each challenge to fit you, your blog, and you community of readers.

This last challenge was about setting goals. I have yet to form all of mine, but they include:
-better, more consistent content
-more commenting on all of your blogs
-keeping track of what I read, including some notes about each book

Bible Blurb

Philippians 4:8

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.

Tuck Everlasting

I recently reread Tuck Everlasting , and then suggested it to a younger sister. She read it eagerly and agreed to answer some questions I had for her. Originally, the camera I had recorded our conversation on died; so we changed the batteries. Then, when it got loaded onto the computer, it got lost- and then deleted off of the camera! I rewrote the questions and had my sister hand write her answers. The only thing I changed in some of her answers was some of the spelling :D. Below you can read the 'discussion' my eleven y/o sister and I had.

* What did you think of the main character, Winnie?
-I like her. I really think that the author described her a lot.

*What character do you think helped her to make the final decision to run away?
-The Toad.

*Do you think the toad was important to this story?
-Yes, the toad was the one who eyeballed her to run away.

*Who was you favorite Tuck?
-Mea.

*Why?
- I don't know, she just is.

*Four of the human characters have the ability to live forever. If someone told you that they could never die, would you believe them?
-No, because it is impossible to live forever.

*Are you so sure now, after reading Tuck Everlasting?
-Well... I'm not sure.

*If you had the choice to live forever, would you?
-No, because it would get really boring, to be 332 years old. It would be kind of scary.


So there you have it; a few questions about Tuck Everlasting answered by an 11 year old girl.

The Call

Water Lillies

Water Lillies was completed in 1914 by French impressionist painter Claude Monet as a part of his Water Lilly series.

Commas

Personally, I have a lot of trouble with commas. I thought I would share some information I found on commas from 'A Writer's Reference' by Diana Hacker:

"The comma was invented to help readers. Without it, sentence parts can collide into one another unexpectedly, causing misreadings.

confusing If you cook Elmer will do the dishes.
confusing While we were eating a rattlesnake approached our campsite.

Add commas in the logical places (after cook and eating), and suddenly all is clear. No longer is Elmer being cooked, the rattlesnake being eaten..."(145)

I will share some of the rules Diana Hacker points out later.

My sister reads!

I am glad to report that my 16 y/o sister has picked up reading again. I had thought she was hopeless (no offense Maggie...), because she only read for school... and that was unenthusiastic. She had a blog for a little bit, but then she stopped using it.

But now, perhaps in the spirit of new year beginnings, she has begun blogging again. She has her blog set on private right now while she finishes up the last few details, but it should be open soon.

Cheers to readers everywhere, and good luck on your reading resolutions

Bible Blurb

Funny it should happen this way, but my 100th post is the first one of 2009.

Anyway, on with the verse...

Isaiah 40:31

But those who hope in the Lord will renew thier strength. They will soar on wings like eagals; they will run and not grow weary, the will walk and not be faint.