I’d Rather Be Fishing

Today the holder of a $62.8 million Powerball ticket stepped forward. The ticket was plucked (or at least that’s how I picture it – plucked, from a glass bowl) days ago. It took until today for the winner to come forward. Turns out he’s an auto mechanic from a small town in northern New Mexico. You can read about him at this link.

This post isn’t about winning the lottery; it’s actually a list of topics we might use to inspire our writing on red Ravine, today or tomorrow or later this year. Plucked out of a notebook or computer file somewhere. Just the ticket we’ll need to break through, chuck our day jobs, and become famous.

Or not.

They say people who become instant millionaires go on to have tragic post-lottery lives. Take Jack Whittaker who won $314 million (before taxes) or Mack Metcalf who with his wife won $34 million. Read about how their lives changed for the worse after they won the lottery.

Writing is hard work. There is no winning lottery ticket. Days like today I wish there were. Either that or I wish I weren’t so compelled to write. Today I’m anything but inspired.

And that’s why I’m here, writing this post. Making a list of topics I’m going to keep in mind for my writing practices in the coming weeks. Use them if you’re so inclined. Just remember, not a one of them is going to land you where you want to go. Only hard work and persistence – a dedicated practice – will get us there.

     1. The sound of water dripping

     2. Living in cities

     3. Old buildings

     4. The seasonal life of roses

     5. Toes and how they run in the family

     6. Hummingbirds

     7. The smell of skunk

     8. Barking dogs

     9. Inertia and why it strikes

     10. White noise

     11. What I would do with $63 million

     12. Superstition




-from Topic post, COFFEE BREAK

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100 Writing Topics

1. why I like midnight
2. my favorite times to write
3. blue moons
4. what it is about being the oldest child
5. fresh air
6. what I learned from my favorite teachers
7. the Tao of Underdog
8. why I don’t write pulp fiction
9. everything I know about State Fairs
10. the last concert I attended
11. the first concert I attended
12. the day I learned to drive
13. who taught me to drive and why
14. classes I loved
15. classes I hated
16. the first time I thought I might like to write
17. favorite places to write as a child
18. where I used to hide out
19. how to get space in a family of eight
20. what was I like in junior high
21. my first crush
22. the last time I played on a seesaw
23. bottle rockets
24. the best intentions
25. why loss is forever
26. why no one wants to accept that loss is forever
27. life after healing
28. states I’ve lived in
29. my favorite coastal town
30. my favorite coast
31. the first time I flew
32. the last time I flew
33. when I was in New York
34. driving country roads
35. why I wanted to be the Lone Ranger
36. what happened to Dale Evans
37. people I know of who came from Texas
38. ways to identify your suitcase on the luggage carousel
39. how many miles I’ve flown
40. favorite places to visit
41. my favorite vacation
42. the year I turned 30
43. old address books
44. where to find memories
45. where to lose memories
46. the last time I was at the ocean
47. everything I know about body surfing
48. the last time I played hide and seek
49. people who have forgotten me
50. people who have remembered me
51. people I’ll never forget
52. people I wish I could forget
53. the last time I ironed
54. what I know about spray starch
55. the unforgiven
56. the last time I played chess
57. walking in the park at night
58. French fries and milk shakes
59. where I go for a good hamburger
60. the last ride to the airport
61. old hangouts
62. the first time I learned to ride a bike
63. the first time I roller skated
64. my favorite bike
65. what I love about motorcycle riding
66. what I remember about nursery rhymes
67. what scares me
68. what makes me stronger
69. my favorite snacks
70. frozen yogurt
71. when I buy toothpaste I
72. makeup counters
73. my favorite color lipstick
74. what I know about Crackerjacks
75. towns I’d like to forget
76. the last roller coaster ride
77. last time I took the bus
78. folding chairs
79. picnics I remember
80. last fly in the soup
81. green inchworms
82. rose bushes
83. gardens and gates
84. what I love about travelling
85. what I hate about travelling
86. last time I tasted buttermilk
87. famous cow names
88. famous horse names
89. stone fences
90. green is the color I
91. when I get angry I
92. Barbie and Ken
93. slow boats and fast trains
94. the last musical I saw
95. fresh fruit
96. mad dashes
97. what I find unforgettable
98. what I find unforgivable
99. the nature of spring
100. summer in the city

– from Topic post, WRITING TOPIC – COFFEE BREAK

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Breakfast At Amelia’s

–Breakfast at Amelia’s, May 30th, 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.

What could be better than fresh grits, hot from the stove (smothered in butter and cheese), scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, and French Roast? For lunch we had pimento cheese sandwiches, peanut butter pie, and sweet iced tea.

For the family gathering tonight, my brother made banana pudding. My sister made a turtle cake. There will be Southern potato salad, macaroni and cheese, and a pineapple angel food cake.

That doesn’t even scratch the surface. Food is grounding. And in writing, it’s something you can really sink your teeth into. Food shapes more than the body. Food is about culture. I bet if you listed all the foods in your family history, there would be a story in every dish.

Mom doesn’t cook much anymore. But when I’m home, I get as much in the way of homestyle Southern cuisine as I can.

It’s just hard to find grits in the Midwest. And it’s even harder to find sweet tea almost anywhere but South.

Wednesday, May 30th, 2007

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Arriving Baltimore From Seat 26F

–Puzzle Pieces, May 29th, 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.

Arrived safely into Baltimore after an hour delay in the flight. I had the very last window seat on the left side of a plane filled with chatty middle school kids, a toddler, and a screaming baby one aisle over. I’m not complaining. I was happy to catch the flight. I practiced just sitting.

My mother and brother were there to meet me at the gate with open arms. They were a sight for sore eyes. After the hour and a half drive north, I walked back into the Pennsylvania home where I spent my teenage years, and the first thing I said was, “Smells like home!”

“Smells like home,” Mom repeated and kind of smiled as she hugged me and went through the daily mail. I’m tired tonight. Not much umphhh left. I bet you’ll find typos and rambling sentences in this post. But I wanted to get the aerials on the page.

What I realized is that the area around Baltimore is even more lush and green than Minnesota. You don’t get the patchwork quilt of fallow fields or the splat of glacial sky puddles. But you do get jigsaw forests and sea inlets, briny make up of a showdown between aquamarine salt and bluesy freshwater.

                   

                  -Bridge, May 29th, 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey.
                   All rights reserved.

And I think that’s the beginning of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, though I don’t know for sure. I’ve driven it a few times on the way to Ocean City, Maryland with my family. But from the air, and with my spatial ineptitude, I could be staring at a foot trail through the Rockies, and I might not know it. I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong. I wish I had shot this last one a few hundred feet forward. That’s when the bridge opened up to the huge expansiveness that it really is.

Alas, it’s time for bed. I’m downloading on dial-up and all my electronic gizmos, cords, and gadgets are spread out on the bed. It takes an arsenal to travel and capture the subtle nuances of the environment. Changes from day to day.

Already I’ve talked to my step-dad and we might make a journey to Tennessee to see the places where I spent some of my younger years. He said most of the houses are still standing. My brother said he’d fire up his GPSr so Mom and I might be able to do some geocaching in Georgia and South Carolina. Mom and I talked about Savannah over dinner at Rock-It Pizza & Subs down the way. And I tried to track down the address of my 8th grade English teacher, Mrs. Juarez.

Let the sleuthing begin. So far, so good. I’ve called many places home. But of all of them, this place smells the most like what I remember as home. The house noises are starting to resonate. My mother has lived here over 40 years. A long time. And at the same time, only the blink of an eye.

Wednesday, May 30th, 2007

– related to posts, View From The Sky and  Arriving Albuquerque From Seat 21A

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