Distill your Story

Okay, so I am officially addicted to Wordle and Wordsmith anagrams

Paste your synopsis into Wordle and see what happens as your story is distilled in a font-fancy cloud you can randomize into different styles.

Or, crack a character's name with an anagram. I couldn't stop laughing when I discovered my fairy protagonist's name included such anagrams as "griping onion, grooving minnow" and "wronging imp." Some were beautiful, like "Morning Wing, Pin Sorrow," and "Singing Iron." You can also increase your fun quotient with the advanced option, which is how I got "Prism Edge."

Marvelous frivolity!

Happy thought

Need a chortle? Check out the original laughing cat!

Anti-lunacy List

I am thoroughly entangled in a revision challenge to slim a hefty storyline down by a third, but a rewrite of this magnitude is like asking the Big Bang to reverse so that the universe can be retooled. The options to preserve my meager stock of sanity in this lunatic endeavor are few:

1. Eat chocolate
2. Watch a Pirates of Dark Water marathon!
3. Induce a Thanksgiving turkey tryptophan coma.
4. Homework. Nix that. Did I mention eat chocolate?

But enough cyber-dawdling. Back to the scribbling board and my stubborn characters. If I may purloin a phrase from the Borg, "resistance is futile!"

Reaching for Sun by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer

My Teaching Exceptional Students class required me to read a children's book that dealt with disabilities. I had the sweet serendipity to stumble upon Tracie Vaughn Zimmer's novel, Reaching for Sun. Josie Wyatt was born with cerebral palsy, but she doesn't let the challenges of her condition dominate her. The wild richness of her grandmother's garden mirrors Josie's own spirit even as developers carve the Wyatt family farm down to a few untamed acres. Josie must contend with a stubborn mother who never listens to her and always thinks she knows what is best even as her life spins in new directions with the arrival of Jordan, a boy who sees Josie as a whole. I'd say that on a scale of 1 to 10, this book of free-verse poems is a 10+.