A False Prophet, a Found King and Oompa Loompas

Friday Plot Swap

Dawn's Plot Swap

Have a plot? Leave one

Need a plot ? Take one

We've got some good ones this week!

Homeless hitchhiker saves the day after driver goes berserk

How'd you like to be an innocent hitchhiker who catches a ride with a man declaring to be Jesus? 

I love how the news article causally mentions, "Oh, yeah, and the hitchhiker had a hatchet."

Of course, why wouldn't he? 

Body found under parking lot is King Richard III

This one is specifically for my time-travel writing friend, Janet Taylor. 

Oh, the possibilities. 

The historical story of how it got there. 

Maybe a modern psychic who kept seeing a body there?

 The implications for the business? 

 

A man in Norfolk, England, was reportedly attacked last week by a pair of Oompa Loompas.

Oompa loompa doompety doo
I've got a perfect puzzle for you.

When Oompas attack,

what will you do?

Bonus Swap: 

This story made my heart happy. I just had to share. 

Conn. couple named 'longest married' in US

They grew up across the street from each other. He used to drive her to school. They fell in love, but her father arranged for her to marry someone else. So, they eloped...and have been married 80 years! 

Sweetest love story ever. 

So, Swap with me!

Could you do something awesome with these? 

What twists would you add? 

Heard any good plots lately? 

The Myth of a Carefree Childhood

Tell Me Your Story Tuesday

The Myth of a Carefree Childhood

I saw a meme on Facebook the other day that read: 

I just want to be 10 years old again with no worries in the world. 

If I remember correctly, it was accompanied by a picture of a child on a bike, riding with no hands, or some other heart-swelling image of nostalgia. 

Several comments followed about the carefree, joyousness of childhood. 

Youth is wasted on the young and similar cliches. 

The same faulty rhetoric people feed teenagers when they declare, 

"Enjoy high school. It's the best years of your life."

Trust me, if high school was the best years of my life, 

I would have snapped and gone running naked down the street a long time ago. 

It's all lies. 

Because, you know what? 

I live with a ten year old. 

A smart, beautiful girl who does well in school, has close friends, as well as  a strong family that loves her fiercely... And, she worries about everything. 

Not just about how she looks or if her favorite Disney Channel couple is going to stay together. 

She worries about the little girl who stole her snack from her locker because

 "Why would she need to steal food, mom?" 

She worries about her friends when others tease them. 

She worries about the boy her sister likes not being nice enough for her. 

She worries about what the country will be like for her children. 

(No, I'm not exaggerating.)

The idea that childhood is this blissful, free of stress, time is absurd.

 At no other point in your life are you in such confusing situations 

with such little control over your own destiny.  

I remember laying in bed at night, unable to shut off my mind. 

My mom probably remembers having to call my third grade teacher at home  because I couldn't stop crying. The teacher had made a boy stand in the trashcan as a punishment during class. I was so humiliated for him that I couldn't sleep and so scared of getting the teacher in trouble, it took my mom a good hour to get out of me why I was sobbing uncontrollably. 

That's the carefreeness of childhood. 

When adults look back through the rose-colored glasses, they discount the overwhelming pressure of that time in a child's life. 

By the time I was my daughter's age:

• My parents were separated for the third or fourth time.
• I had lived in three states in three years. 
• I knew what drugs were.
• I knew what alcoholism looked like. 
• I had sat at the graveside of someone I loved. 
• I had vague information about what sex would be and the thought was pretty terrifying. 

My life was far from stress-free. And, I wouldn't consider my childhood to be "bad". It just was. 

Children deserve for adults to respect the their emotions, ease their fears with out belittling them and offer empathy and compassion. 

Not just a patronizing pat on the head and a wistful, 

"Oh, when I was your age..."

So, tell me your story. 

Do you remember your childhood as all sno-cones and games of tag? 

Do you think people romanticize those early years? 

Is high school ever the best years of someone's life? 

 

No Makeover Monday

No Makeover Monday

Sad Dawn

My plans for a BIG Makeover Monday were thwarted (yes, I'm using the word THWARTED) by the lack of cute shelf paper in the DFW area. 

I have an idea for the best pantry makeover EVAH. But, I can't find any cute shelf paper. And, just in case my husband is reading, the "camo" paper we saw does NOT count as "cute". 

I want something with color.

Or else, I might be forced to *gulp* paint! 

So, here is the BEFORE.

No, AFTER.

Sad Dawn.

Any suggestions for shelf paper? 

Colors? 

Anything? 

Friday Plot Swap~ As Seen on TV

Dawn's Plot Swap

Have a plot? Leave one

Need a plot ? Take one
AS SEEN ON TV

I went to a workshop once where the presenter compared loglines to the little blurbs you see on your TV guide. Last year, as an experiment I scrolled through my guide for some plot ideas. I decided to give it another try with some different movies this year.
Click on the logline to go to the movie description. 

What kind of fun could you have with these?  

College students play a treasure-hunting game that contains a deadly mystery.

A dullard awakens500 years in the future and finds that he is the smartest person alive

Asthe threat of cancellation looms, a TV talk show host pulls an outrageous stuntin an attempt to boost his ratings. 

The plan of three women to intercept a drug shipment for their boss goes horribly wrong. 

So, swap with me!

Books are always better than the movie. Could you make these into something awesome? 

Or

Leave a logline and we'll try to guess the book  or movie. 

Happy Writing!

Makeover Monday~ Laundry Room

Makeover Monday

THE LAUNDRY ROOM

A little background for today's post. 

We have been in this house five years. For the 25 years before that I lived in houses I knew I would be moving from. The houses I remember growing up were rent houses. My parents bought a house after I went to college, but I never officially lived there. 

My husband and I moved from a townhouse to a rent house to a starter house to a rented trailer (yeah, I post pictures of that place some day. Nothing like original 1982 wallpaper to make you appreciate how far you've come.) to here. 

So, even though we've been here a while, it took me some time to get used to the idea that I could do whatever I wanted to this house. 

Before my houses were all about function.

Did it work? Fine, no need to make it pretty. 

It's not going to stay mine anyway. 

When I started researching how I wanted to organize the laundry room, I found all these pictures of people who I thought had been sniffing too much Tide.

It's a LAUNDRY room. You have framed pictures of your kids on the shelves with a decorative glass jar to house your soap? REALLY? 

How deeply do you inhale when you're pouring in that Clorox? 

So, I did this. 

(Sorry for the crooked picture. We really don't live in a house built by Dr. Seuss.)

Nice. Clean. Functional. What more does it need? 

Except...

The laundry room is right off the kitchen. 

The door is never closed. 

I go into this room several times a day.

I walk by it even more times a day.

I can even see into it from where I sit on the couch. 

UGH. 

It was still bugging me. 

So, I made a decision. 

It is my house. 

My laundry room.

And, I'm going to make it pretty. 

I may have gone slightly nuts. 

Or at least, that's probably what my husband was thinking to himself as he install the new shelving.  He was kind enough not to mutter it under his breath or anything. 

I even hung a picture! 

It says "The stars at night are big and bright..."

(Those of you from Texas just clapped in your heads, I know you did.)

Before

After

You don't think I've been sniffing the stain remover too much, do you? 

Friday Plot Swap: Primitive Style

Dawn's Plot Swap

Have a plot? Leave one.

Need a plot ? Take one.

What could you do with these?

Couple has been living under a rock,quite literally

The man decided he wanted to make his home under the boulder when he was 8 years old. He saved his money, bought the land and has lived there with his wife for 30 years, raising seven children.  What would their life be like? What if one of their children was accepted into a prestigious school and left home? What kind of culture shock would he/she experience?  

A Harvard professor says that by injecting Stone Age genes into a human embryo — and then implanting the embryo into a human surrogate mother — it will soon be possible to create a living Neanderthal.

In the past few days, the scientist has come out saying he isn't actively searching for a woman for this experiment. But, the science fiction implications of that kind of procedure are endless. What if the baby disproved everything we know about primitive man? What if the woman was meant only to be a surrogate and give up the baby to some scientific organization, but decides she can't. Then, takes the baby and runs? 

Explorer's rare Scotch returned to Antarctic stash

This is my favorite this week. Scotch, bottled in 1898 and left behind during a failed expedition in 1907 was found perfectly preserved in frozen crates during 2010. After extracting a sample to be used to recreate the formula, the bottles are being returned to where they were found as a tribute to the explorers.  

Stories, stories everywhere!

The story of the expedition. 

The story of finding the bottles

The story of the team recreating the formula.

What if someone wanted to steal it? 

The story of the team returning the bottles.

So many different plots! LOVE IT!

So, swap with me!

Read any good plots lately? 

Have any abandoned plots you want to drop off for adoption?
We accept all kinds. 

Musical Misunderstandings

Tell Me Your Story

Musical Misunderstandings

    On a recent car trip, I decided if I had to hear Taylor Swift croon one more I'm-his-best-friend-but-secretly-in-love-with-him-let-me-cry-on-my-guitar-oh-he-loves-me-too! ballad, I was going to throw myself on the pavement at 75 mph. 

    To save me from highway suicide, my husband put in some  more mature, yet kid-friendly music. That's when this song came on. 

Love to Lay You Down 

My girls started singing along and Scott and I exchanged a look. 

This was going to be one of "those songs."

One of those songs you sing as a kid and have no clue they are any thing but innocent. One of those songs that make you call your mother when you're older and say,

 "Do you know what this song is about?" 

Yep, it's happen to me. I was exposed to a variety of music growing up. My parents were never into oldies. They listened to Hank Jr., The Eagles,  and people like Joe Ely. My uncle liked to show me off  (and win bets with his friends) because before I was in elementary school, I could identify songs by The Who, Peter Frampton and Little Feat.

 He did get reprimanded by mom when I was belting out Angel in the Centerfold in the middle of Pizza Hut. 

But, my AH HA moment came driving home from college. I hit an old country station and a great song from my childhood poured from the speakers. 

Send Me Down To Tucson ~ Mel Tillis

No one wants to go down to Tucson in the summer

So this time the boss chose me 

(See, he's a hard-working man who's ready to do a job no one else wants.)

I've been sort of restless yes he thought it might help if

I got away from my wife and family

(He's been stressed. Needs a break. I can respect that.)

There's been no other woman since the mother of my 

children

And in each and every way she's a lady

(He's faithful. Loves and honors his wife)

Now there's one that I'll remember a sultry night we spent

 together

(Remembering an old flame. Playing the "highlight" reel. It happens.)

And she satisfied the love inside of me

Go on and send me down to Tucson and I'll get the job done

(Good man. Send me down, Boss. I'll take care of it!)

And call up the one whose love is free

(Huh?)
She may be easy and I love my lady

(Whaa?)

But the lady don't satisfy the love inside of me

(He's CHEATING?!?!?! *Insert sound of childhood

 innocence shattering here.*)

So, tell me your story.

Ever had a song you loved but were clueless about the meaning? 

Ever had a "What?" moment like me?