“So, have you noticed that irony is super trendy now?” I dealt Phase 10 cards to Amy and my two kids. “‘The Ironic Generation.’ I keep hearing that. What does that even mean? That people want to live off the grid, yet they can’t survive without Facebook and Twitter?” Amy fanned and arranged the cards … Continue reading Ironic table talk (R)
Dear lotion pump manufacturer, This may seem a strange request, but I am a writer who loves words, and I wondering if there is an industry term for the crusty glob of lotion that clogs the tip of a dispenser. Because you attempt to design products to prevent these clumps, I thought you might have … Continue reading Logophile
I’m feeling festive among the jeweled reds of the season. I don’t want to take too much time away from family to write on Christmas (though they are all occupied with other things – new Wii games, a new Samsung tablet, a pre-feast workout), but the colors of the day are inspiring me. Since I … Continue reading Christmas in reds
“No writer should be without a Very Large dictionary.” – Priscilla Long On a bitter cold Tuesday afternoon when hat, scarf, gloves, and wool coat were not enough to keep the icy air out of my bones, I popped four quarters in a meter in downtown Blacksburg, bent my head to the needling wind, and … Continue reading Word trap
When I sit at my tan desk, in our beige room, with dull buff carpet beneath my chair, I often have a hard time coming up with color words. I google “synonyms for green,” rifle through crayon boxes, and scroll through images of paint chips and artists’ color names, but I am not usually inspired … Continue reading Fistful of words
It is summer, and that means it’s time for sipping iced drinks out on the porch while… wait, is it a porch? Maybe it’s a deck. A lanai? Maybe a veranda. When I wrote my second vignette from a white sand beach, the one about the woman sweeping her walk, I originally wrote, “I sip … Continue reading Balconies, porches, and patios – a primer on the language of outdoor seating
Butterfly Mind 