In The Circus Now

I lifted up on my elbows to take a look around and get my bearings, but my view was obscured by something stuck on my nose. Further inspection revealed a round bulbous protuberance was indeed stuck to my nose. Undeterred by this odd discovery, I swung my legs over the side of the bed; or attempted to swing my legs over the side of the bed. The activity was hampered by some heavy weight attached to my feet. I bent forward for further inspection and bonked my forehead on a very large shoe which I grabbed with both hands and started tugging at. All efforts to remove it failed.

“It's no use. They won't come off.”

I looked up to ask the obvious question and batted at the thing stuck to my nose to get it out of my line of sight. Pain shot straight to my brain.

“What's going on? Where am I?”

“You're in the circus now, my lovely dear. You've been conscripted.”

“Uh uh, No. No. No. I'm going home. Help me up.”

"Don't make me use this." He was holding a large bucket in his tiny little hands and brown water sloshed over the rim.

"You will take these ridiculous shoes off me and you will do it this instant! You can't do anything to me. Why you're nothing but a tiny little dwarfy short person! You dwarfy little short person! Help me up!"

“No can do. You're in the circus now. And a lovely little clown you do make, if I say so me self. Can you tumble or produce a rabbit out of a hat? If you can, perhaps we won't shoot you out of the cannon. Oh yes, escaping that would be lovely. Lovely indeed.”

As he strolled out of the tent he sang this song, "Diddle de doo, diddle de do, look at me I've got youooo..."

I can not tumble or produce a rabbit out of a hat. I can not run very fast in clown shoes, at least not fast enough to run away from the circus. I can not remove my clown nose, or my Little Orphan Anny wig from my head either.

I can be shot out of a cannon. It would have been lovely indeed if this were not so.

Every evening I scan the crowd hoping my husband will be there, come to rescue me.

Every evening I practice producing a rabbit out of a hat.

Every evening I get a little better at tumbling in clown shoes.

Today I laughed for the first time since I was conscripted into the circus. I laughed because tonight someone else is being shot out of the cannon.

He's a smallish man and will fit nicely into it. He will make quite a sight as his blue and yellow clown self flys through the air.

Tomorrow, I'll try to remember my name. It may take all day, but I'm gonna try. I overheard some of the others talking and they said if you remember your name you can go home. One of 'em said it's happened. Said they saw it with their own eyes. Dropped off the trapeze, walked into the crowd and left with 'em!

People names, people names. Bobo, lassie – no that's a dog name. Trigger – cow – or goat maybe. Trigger, trigger. Trigger is
a
horse!
Trigger is a horse!

People names.
People names.
Marsha, melissa, corey, carl, mark, paul, wally, orange, purple, shawn, kara, pink, bobo...

Haven't had much time for people name thinkin' lately. Too busy being shot out of the cannon.

Rats, that new bobo learns fast – he'll be doing tumblin' again tonight. I'd have bad things to say about that new bobo – If I could remember 'em.

“So, bobo, what did you do before you got conscripted to the circus?”

Bobo gave me the same blank look I got when I tried to remember my name. Then he said, “I am an accountant.” And just like that, his nose fell off. Hit the dirt and rolled almost a foot. Then he reached down and pulled off one of his shoes. Then the other one. “My name is Dave, and I'm an accountant.”

I feel like crying, cause Dave the Accountant just turned around and walked off. Now I've got to do the the tumbling AND get shot out of the cannon.

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Scrivener can change your writing life

I’ve just purchased the Windows version of the popular content management/creation program Scrivener (it also comes in a Mac version). Created by Literature And Latte

 You can buy Scrivener for only $40, I got it for $32 with the 20% discount I picked up on the net. You can try this code or google for the latest one if this one no longer works

 WORDSWITHJAM

 Copy the code and paste it in the appropriate box at check out.

 I downloaded the free version and it only took me a few hours to know that I had to have it.

 As soon as I worked my way through the interactive tutorial that comes loaded with the program (as well as a full manual) I pulled in an article I’ve been stuck on and created a project for it. In no time I had edited it, tightened it and saw exactly what it needed to be publishable. I pulled research off the net and put them in my project Research folder and now I’m ready to complete the article.

 This is for any kind of writing project you might have.

 Blog posts
Recipe collections
Novels
Stories
Scripts
Technical papers
Lectures
Theses

Check it out and thank me later.

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Not All Bridges Can Be Burned

I wrote the following essay that was published in the My Turn section of Newsweek in 1993, but the subject is as relevant today as it was then and bears repeating. You can still read this essay on The Daily Beast online here

Not All Bridges Can Be Burned

Your Life History Is Your Permanent Record. It Might Be Possible To Redeem It, But You Can't Shake It.

By Judy White Edelson | NEWSWEEK

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What's on TV This June

Teen Wolf     MTVs supernatural teen drama returns with season 2 on Sun.,  June 3rd at 11 pm. You can catch up with an hour long recap of the first season at MTV at this link:  Teen Wolf: Origins




Season 2 Trailer




True Blood will be back with season 5 on HBO Sun. June 10th at 9 pm. This will be the  last season for show creator Alan Ball. Whether there will be a season 6 remains to be seen. I'm a super fan of True Blood so I've got both the season 5 Trailer and a season 4 recap below.



Season 5 Trailer




 
Season 4 Recap






Dallas airs its premier episode on TNT  June 13th at 9 pm. Dallas back with J.R. and Bobby and the next generation.

 

 

 

 

Falling Skies Season 3 of this Steven Speilberg produced drama about alien invasion starring Noah Wyle  is back on  TNT Sun., June 17th.

 

 

 

Here's the first three minutes of this season's first episode



 

Anger Management premiers on FX Thurs., June 28th. This is Charlie Sheen's new show. What could be more fun than watching Sheen play a dysfunctional therapist after his angry  "WINNING!" rant last year. We all know that Sheen is a top notch entertainer whether on screen or off, and this half hour comedy should be plenty of fun.

Charlie (the therapist) used to be a minor league baseball player, but his road to the majors got derailed because of his own anger issues. So he goes to anger management therapy. He gets picked up by the majors, but gets cut when he tries to break a bat over his knee in a fit of anger and suffers a career ending injury. So he goes back to college and becomes an anger management therapist.

 


Wilfred FX Thurs. June 28th at 10:30 pm half hour Season 2

 

 

 

 

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COOKING FOOD

I've moved my recipe section to its own blog which is a sub blog of JWEwrite. You can still get to the recipe posts from here via the Cooking For One  link at the top of this blog, but you'll no longer see individual posts on the front page here. You can also access it directly at http://cookingforone.jwewrite.com

With this change you'll now be able to see all the recipe posts in one place featured in the  revolving slider at the top of the page. You'll also be able to subscribe to just the recipe posts by clicking the RSS Feed at the top of the Cooking For One site. The RSS Feed on JWEwrite will no longer include cooking posts

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Do You Have A Voice?

A lot of conversation seems to go around in writerly circles about Voice.

If you just tell the story, voice will take care of itself.

Not everything you write will sound the same. If you are using first person narrative, then the Voice will be the voice of the protagonist or narrator.

Your personal voice will be more evident in essays, but shouldn't be all that evident in main stream non-fiction.

It isn't something you should spend time worrying about or trying to develop. It's going to be an extension of yourself. How you view the world. If you're a wry sort of person then you may notice that hints of humor show up. Dramatic sort? I'll bet your writing carries a punch.

But not all subjects lend themselves to the same type of prose. Let the story have its own voice. Over your body of works you may begin to notice your own voice inside each individual piece of work. Its not something you can create as an independent thing. It's allready a part of the woof and weave of who and what you are.

My blog has a voice because blogs are free form writing. For me my blog is a conversation with friends. If this was a serious how-to blog on writing or cooking the prose would be more staid and precise.

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Potboiler Or Literary Fiction?


What is the difference between a potboiler and Literary fiction? With a potboiler you create the plot first then plug your characters into that plot. These are the types of stories/novels that lend themselves best to outlines. This doesn’t mean you can’t still create interesting and fully fleshed characters.


Don’t think “potboiler” means the story is sub par. That just means that the story is, well, story driven. In a potboiler, story is king. They are usually action driven. Not necessarily heart pounding, break neck action, but the driving force of the story is the mystery or the rescue. Of course you’ll want interesting and relatable characters peopling your story but you’re not going to make love to them. These guys are more of a casual dating experience with a couple of rowdy rolls in the hay. The reason your readers turn the page is because they want to know what happens next.

Literary fiction is character driven. These are the ones where you hear the writer say that the characters take over and tell their story. Even though the writer started out with a clear story idea in mind. Once you’ve fleshed out your character and gotten to know them, they take on a life of their own. Kind of like the boyfriend who one day you notice has moved in. Toothbrush. check. Extra shirts hanging in your closet. Check. Dress shoes on closet floor and sneakers in the corner of the living room. Check.

He lives there now hon, whether you like it or not. Now it’s time to find out if he’s a serial killer. If you want to write character driven fiction, you’ve got to get to know your characters. What they like, what they hate. What they wear, eat, listen to while driving the car. It’s not about the prose. It’s about the characters. The reason your readers will turn the page is because they care about the character.

Potboiler or Literary Fiction? Personally I like both, but I read more potboilers. I think the best is a combination of the two. Which do you prefer?

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