Everything I know, I learned in Middle School

Well, okay, not EVERYTHING. But most of the Important Things. Like hairspray is best used in moderation; velour is not a material that should be made into pants; and positive habits can be reinforced with time.

Woa. That last one was deep, no? It popped into my head today (whilst in the midst of a discussion with JR Johansson, bemoaning our existence in the publishing industry) and I thought would make a good, inspiring blog post.

I first learned this Important Thing while in the throws of eighth grade. It was a trying time in my young life; I had just transfered from public school to private, and had suffered the ridicule brought on by too much hairspray and velour pants (clearly I was a regular fashionista). One of my friends, an equally-tormented eighth grader, decided she wanted to have a crush. Because having a crush on a boy looked fun, and we were bored, and maybe it would fuel us to FOR THE LOVE OF GOD buy normal pants.

So one day my friend picked a guy in our class, a nerdy-cute awkward eighth grade boy. And from then on out, she vowed that she was in love with him.

Now, she had no interest in him at first. Barely knew his name. But as time progressed, my friend continued to feed her certainty that she was in love with him -- went out of her way to see him, giggled when he looked at her, drew hearts around his name, etc etc -- and, a few weeks later, found that she no longer had to force these reactions. She had, as much as an eighth grade girl can, fallen in love with this awkward, nerdy boy.

The moral of this story: habits can be forced. People seem to think that if they don't FEEL happy or FEEL positive, they can't be. And while I definitely do NOT condone forcing your feelings all the time, there are certain instances (like being all woe-is-me over your state of publication) where you can afford to force yourself to act happy. Because if you do it long enough (point out the good sides of things, look for silver linings, focus on the one good thing that happened instead of the five bad things), you will eventually find that you don't have to force it. Like my friend, you will one day wake up and realize you ARE, in fact, the happy person you once had to force yourself to be. Or in love with a nerdy eighth grade boy. Which would be weird. Unless you're an eighth grade girl.

For instance, I could continue bemoaning by lack-of-publication status OR I could choose to PARTY PARTY DANCE because it's Friday.

I choose to PARTY PARTY DANCE. Join me, if you will.

Inspirational Nugget of the Day: Friday Edition

I'm at work, and it's Friday, and I want to be writing, but I'm a good employee, so I'M NOT.

But you should be. Because someone out there should be writing in my honor.

To help with this, here's another Inspirational Nugget of the Day, one I like very, very much and considered keeping for myself. But I like all of you very, very much too, so I'm sharing the inspiration with the world. Feel special.

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/09/23/new-hope-for-blind-as-europes-first-embryonic-stem-cell-trial-is-approved/

A harmless enough cure, or the beginnings of a Zombie Apocalypse? Users will only get a headache side-effect or superhuman mind/eye powers?

You decide, writers, while I sit in the throws of Corporate America, slave to The Man.

That sounded more extreme than my situation is. And it's Friday. I can't complain too much.

Inspirational Nugget of the Day

For all ya'll who find yourselves staring blankly at the computer screen, at a loss for something snappy and awesome for which to write your little fingers to the bone about, behold: Sara's Inspirational Nugget of the Day.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/09/06/tech-company-to-build-science-ghost-town-in-nm/

You're welcome, friends. Now let the inspirational juices flow!

Inspiration: Mad Gab Edition

Hullo.

So, I've got my ghost book. And I like my ghost book. I've also got my pirate book, and, well, kind of goes without saying that I like my pirate book. But that's not enough. Because I'm selfish like that. So we're going to play Inspiration Mad Gab!

(It occurs to me every time I write blog posts just how often I start sentences with "so." I swear that doesn't happen in my books as much. Maybe. So maybe.)

I want/need another story idea. And, should any of the proceeding generated ideas spark an inspirational fire in you, you might just find that you want/need story ideas too. It's a win-win for all of us, really -- story ideas are generated, and you get to play Inspiration Mad Gab.

Rules are:

1) Pick an assortment of words (I trust you not to peak at the Mad Gab filler sentence at the bottom of the post. Don't break this trust, people).
2) Once you have your list, THEN and ONLY THEN may you look at the filler sentence at the bottom. Put your words in and develop a wonderfully inspirational sentence that you then post in the comments. Unless you like your wonderfullyl inspirational sentence so very much you have to keep it for yourself and a write a book about it that then becomes a bestseller. Just remember to thank my Mad Gab game in the acknowledgements.

Ready? Now, come up with:

MC name
adjective
noun
location
noun
Span of time
event
noun/thing
verb past tense
verb
verb
noun
verb
Secondary Character name
verb
noun

Remember, the more obscure the words you pick, the more inspirational the sentence will be. Guaranteed. Maybe.

I'll wait while you come up with words.

*twiddles thumbs*

Got it? Now using the words you came up with, in the order you came up with them, plug them into:

[MC name] is a/an [adjective] [noun] who lives [location] and has a [noun]. [Span of time] has passed since [event] during which all of [MC name]'s [noun/thing] were [verb past tense]. This has made [MC name] [verb]. In order to [verb] the [noun], [MC name] must [verb] with [Secondary Character name] and [verb] the [noun].

Though personally, I'm a fan of verbing the noun.

And...GO!