Live your story!

I'm not recommending that mystery writers go out a start committing crimes or horror writers begin to worship satan.

The phrase was something that come to mind yesterday as I read yesterday's October Platform Challenge being put on by Robert Brewer from Writer's Digest. Couple that with the fact that my Daycare provider was down with pneumonia, and I was going to be staying home with my daughter. 

She hadn't slept well the night before (so neither did I), and we were both a bit grouchy for it. The thought of staying home, knowing that she would be taking 100% of my attention all day was a bit frustrating after having a total of 2 hours sleep the pervious night. (It may make me sound like a crappy human, but those who've been in my shoes know that frustrations happen with toddlers.)

And so the birth of . . .

Daddy-Daughter Adventure Day

Instead of groaning over having to stay home, I decided that we would have an adventure. Now granted she's a toddler, so adventure would be a bit of a strong word for me, but to her it was a grand adventure. 

We hiked through the wilderness (Mt. Tom State Reservation), bringing along trusty and stalwart Sir Archibald Von Foxington III Esq. (my daughter's stuffed fox) for protection. We scaled boulders (rocks) and climbed a tower that overlooked the whole world (all of Western Ma). She loved every second of it. There were times when she was scared; there were times when she fell and bruised her cheek (bad daddy); there were times when Foxy was lost on the trail, and we had to go back to rescue him. Everything was new for her . . . and through her, for me. I saw the world in a new light.

#liveyourstory

Thus I (created? used? . . . I'm new to tweeting) #liveyourstory as a reminder that writing isn't about rehashing old plots you read about. Writing is about seeing the world through the eyes of your characters (who by all rights are alive for the first time ever, experiencing everything fresh). 

I remind my students every day that writers didn't exist in dusty libraries, they led full complicated lives. From those complications came their plots and poems. It's in the dirty places of life that we find our best stories.

"It's in the dirty places of life that we find our best stories. That's tweetable . . .

And so, #liveyourstory, to me is a declaration reminding myself that when you approach the simple with the mentality of an epic adventure, you can see the plots that surround you every day. If you live your life with purpose, you will never lack a story to tell. Want to tweet this one?

Experience

Go. Get out and experience life. Tweet it. Write about it. #liveyourstory

Worst story lines ever!

Rachelle Gardner is having a writing competition to develop the worst loglines for the worst story you can come up with. I decided to try my hand at it. 

So, here goes the worst detritus my mind can come up with at this point. (I included titles here, just for kicks.)

Photo credit: Kurayba / Foter / CC BY-SA

Ermine Apocalypse

Trapped in the frozen Siberian wasteland, a team of five intrepid ermine scatologists discover nano-technology in an ermine den setting off a chain reaction turning whoever touches it into a blood-thirsty human ermine hybrid; now the remaining two scatologists must put aside their failed romance to save the remaining ermine population and the world.

Dixie Cup Blues

A charlatan palm reader who moonlights as a stock-boy at a discount grocery store discovers he has the power to stack Dixie Cups with his mind and must come to terms with how the use of his newfound power has destroyed his relationship with the morning grocery clerk, the only true relationship he ever had.

What do you think? Best sellers, right?

Throw some of your own here in the comments (but posting here isn't the same as entering the contest, so after you post them here, be sure to go to the actual contest and post there too) . . . they're kinda fun to come up with!

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Struggling to come up with your next great writing idea? Check out Story Crafter.