Goofs to avoid

Source: holykaw.alltop.com via charles on Pinterest

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters

There's a hole in my sidewalk
by Portia Nelson

Chapter One

I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost …. I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter Two

I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend that I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in this same place.
But, it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter Three

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in … it’s a habit … but, my eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

Chapter Four

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

Chapter Five

I walk down another street.

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Dragon

Derek the Dragon was sad.

Derek the Dragon could not make smoke.

And we all know there's no smoke without fire.

And this was Derek's problem. He was a dragon with no fire.

He asked a passing bird what she thought.

But she just talked about herself, as that is what birds do.
"Tweet twitter tweet."

He asked his neighbour the Bear what he thought.

But as it was nearly winter, Bear was sleepy, almost hibernating. So Derek didn't understand Bear's muffled words,
"Meed mood, met mat."

Derek was upset. He needed some help.
"I want fire, I need fire in my life. I am a dragon!" he said. But no one was listening.

Derek looked up into the sky. And what did he see? He saw smoke far away in the distance!

And we all know there's no smoke without fire.

Derek decided to go to the smoke.

Derek flew over hills, through valleys and across streams.

When he was close he could smell the smoke. Derek's mouth curved up a little at the corners.

Derek sped the last few miles towards the smoke.

And he found a wizard.

The wizard had a black pot of soup cooking on a big roaring fire.

"Hello" said the wizard pointing a crooked finger at Derek, "Would you like some soup?"

Derek starred at the fire, it crackled and glowed, smoke was billowing up into the air. Derek had a big smile on his face.

"Um, no thank you" said Derek, "I am here to ask you why I don't make smoke and fire?"

"Ahhh" said the wizard, "Let me see." and he paused for a while.








 "Are you happy?" the wizard finally asked

"No, I'm not" said Derek

"Once you are happy then you will make smoke and fire." the wizard wisely stated and went back to stirring his soup.

"But how do I become happy?" Derek asked the wizard

The wizard stopped stirring the soup and looked at Derek,
"Well, you will need three things. Someone to love,  something to do and something to hope for."

"Oh" said Derek and then added "Thank you" Derek then took off back for his home thinking hard about what the wizard said.

I have something to hope for - I hope one day soon I will make smoke and fire.

I have something to do - I must get happy to make smoke and fire.

But I need to find someone to love - I don't have anyone to love.

At home Derek wondered who he could love. The closest person to him was Bear. So he thought he would love Bear. He went to Bear and said,
"I have decided to love you Bear."

But Bear was asleep.

Derek wondered what to do next. He thought about bear. Whenever he saw Bear he was either sleeping or eating. Derek decided to go and get something for Bear to eat. Derek had to think hard about Bear again, what did bear like to eat? Derek remembered seeing Bear fishing in the river. So Derek caught some fish for Bear using his long spikey dragon's tail.

Derek put the fish next to sleeping Bear.
Bear stirred and woke up.
"Grrrr "said Bear "I mell mish"

"Pardon" said Derek
"I smell fish" said Bear more clearly this time.
"Yes I have caught you some, I remembered you like eating and I also remembered you like eating fish."
"Thats very nice of you." said Bear a little suspiciously.
"Well, l've decided to love you." said Derek
"What? Haa haa hah ha ha ha." Bear laughed out loud, a big hearty beary laugh.

Derek was taken aback, but then started very slowly to smile. Bear continued to laugh and his laughter became hysterical.
And do you know what happened

As Derek started to giggle, smoke started to smolder out of his lips.
Then as Derek's giggle turned into fun, full, proper laughter the smoke turned into fire.
"Whooosh" came the fire out of Derek's mouth.
"Whoosh" it went again.

And Bear and Derek enjoyed some barbeque fish for dinner.

Christmas Present

For Christmas from my big brother I received a notebook with a letter inside it. The letter said the following words:










The spoken word, it has been said, is unable to be taken back.
The written word will last longer than your life time.
Your thoughts are often never heard or shared.
There are many words which you wished you could have spoken.
Well, here is your opportunity, write them down in this book.

Great present, right up my alley.

Thank you big brother.

Books alive

Writing rules

Reblogged from Medo de escrever. « Palavra Aguda

Favourite word

Hideous

When you say hideous you actually make a look that says hideous, lifting up your top lip and pushing your chin out a bit. I have been using this word in conversations very regularly over the last year or more. And guess what? It’s catching on, more people in my circle are using it. I don’t find that hideous at all.

Alternatives the thesaurus suggests are: Ugly, revolting, repugnant, repulsive, unsightly, gruesome, shocking and dreadful.

Imagination

"The man who has no imagination has no wings"

Muhammad Ali

"Imagination comes from the Soul, Subconscious and the Senses. Through imagination we become multidimensional, experience more love, create more beauty, connect with divinity and manifest more results and change.”

George Bernard Shaw

What is it?

It can be deceptive

Sometimes we long for it, other times it shocks us to pieces

It is often resisted

It can be disguised as a happy coincidence, good fortune, bad luck, fate, accident or a blessing

People try to predict it

It makes us who we are

It can happen very slowly, over centuries or all at once in a second

It can be managed

It is our only certainty in life

……Change

Up

Her neck ached, yet she couldn’t stop looking up. She didn’t realise it, but her jaw had dropped. Why do this? What if she hadn’t had another cup of tea? What if she had not run for the train? She had also chased after her scarf as it flew away, free on the wind. She couldn’t understand why it had to be her seeing this now. Couldn’t someone else had found this? Who was this?  What made them do this? Wasn’t someone looking for them? How long had they been hidden here?  A gust of wind rustled the leaves, it moved too.

Her hair was in her eyes, it blocked her view of it. A shaking hand came up to her face and tucked her hair behind her ear.  A cracking tearing noise of wood replayed in her head. She was already looking at the tree as it happened. The tree was dancing with the wind. When the branch fell, she was close.  The falling branch exposed it, opened up the contents for her to see. She knew straight away what it was. She didn’t have to wonder, or look twice.

She looked away. Her mind had had its fill of the sight. Yet as she looked for her phone to call the police, she had to look up again to see it.  A voice she didn’t recognize said, “There’s a person hanging dead in a tree.”