Musings: contest Feather Brain howweirdcanyouget.com
by Maureen Bush
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Contest Closing
The contest for howweirdcanyouget.com closes on May 1.
Griffith the wizard is looking for magical ideas to develop for his store – if you have a good one, send it in. Lots of great ideas have arrived, but he’s always looking for more.
He’s a little disappointed he hasn’t received any entries from adults. Only kids can win, but he likes to see what craziness adults come up with, too.
Maureen
It’s Raining
It’s raining – this is probably the first time I’ve heard the patter of rain on the roof in six months. It’s dark and damp and absolutely delightful. Of course, if it’s still raining tomorrow I’ll have to remind myself of how much we need the rain to enjoy it. If it’s still raining on Saturday, the whole city will be cranky.
Today, I can enjoy the sound and the freshness and think of my plants doing the Secret Garden thing, reaching their roots out and growing growing growing.
Maureen
I am becoming a stereotype
The more time I spend writing and living as a writer, the more I resemble stereotypes of writers. Not the crazy writer stereotype, but the distracted writer, too wrapped up in my head to quite pay attention to daily life.
Once I’ve taken care of kids and the renovation, I’m done with practicalities. I forget where I need to be tomorrow, or where I was last week, and what the event was called. I stand in the back entry, wondering what I’ve walked back there for. I don’t lose track of my glasses – not yet – but that’s only because they’re on my nose.
I’ve also developed a thing about pens. I once heard a writer asked “What pen do you use?” and it seemed like a terrible waste of a question. Not any more – I’ve become fanatical about pens. Signing pens need to be felt-tipped, black, with a lovely flow. But that’s a terrible pen for writing. Felt-tipped pens put too much ink on the page, making my writing even more illegible than it already is. So it’s ball-point for me, but never one that blots. Cheap, because I lose them. Click, because I lose the caps. Not too fat or too thin, because both cramp my hand. And the tip has to be angled just right, to keep my fingers from creeping forward. I feel like Goldilocks, searching for the perfect pen.
I buy them by the box, and I make sure family pens are different, so if I find one of my pens lurking around the house, I can reclaim it. Usually rather forcefully. Don’t mess with my pens. Except when I’m too distracted to notice.
Maureen
Books on Goodreads
I’m slowly figuring out Goodreads. I’m focusing on children’s books I love, but I’ve set up one shelf for my childhood favorites, and another for the books of writer friends, which I’m slowly working on. I apologize for not rating them (I know this is a great thing for Goodreads), but I figured if I gave them all a 5 it would be a little obvious, and if I rated them otherwise I’d feel like I was ranking my friends. Instead, they get a bookshelf.
Having said that, if anyone wants to review or rate my books, that would be delightful. Unless, of course, you didn’t actually like them, in which case I’d be fine with you spending your time on something else. Either way, thanks so much.
Maureen