Re-Vision

Writing has temporarily taken a back seat. Necessarily, I say and yet I wonder. I survey my surroundings and check my appointment book - a PDA now instead of a book and it weighs only four ounces. Yes, I've been busy with work. Yes, I had a show this week, was out of town on the whirlwind surreal trip to planet Las Vegas last week, and have various homework assignments to grade. *And* I did manage to some writing.

I'm not getting very far with revisions right now. But I know that will come.

Thinking back to my original goal of writing every day - I'm nearly there, even with the income-generating work dominating my schedule. That's good. It's progress. I have a bunch of new material and, soon, I will have time to work on revisions.

Re-vision.

I may not be revising my writing, but I am re-visioning my priorities. When I'm done catching up with the grading of homework for my in-person students, I will start back on revision of some new pieces and a couple pieces I've been working on for a while which feel nearly done.

Sometimes when I've felt a little stuck for how to start writing when my brain is swirling with plays and grades, I've gone to WordLush and used the random list to prime the creative juices. Below are today's words. If you haven't been there - go take a look. They have a Daily Word Spittoon which spews seven words; you can also see previous creations from other lists. The intent is to write something using all of the words. A couple characters have surfaced in some of my spittoon writings, which I plan to revisit when I start my revisions. Today's words are:
* miser
* for profit
* assonance
* sputter
* snout
* perfidious
* medusoid

Cowmmedia d'ell Arte by Serena Barton
as part of the Kows for Kids project

from the mouth of the Spittoon

In case you haven't visited it yet, I thought I'd give you a taste of what can be found at WordLush, a website with word games. My writing, generated from the Daily Word Spittoon's word list on 1/24/08:

"flailing through time"

As he tossed feverishly in his bed, sheets and blankets threatening to choke or strangle due to flailing limbs, his voice suddenly shot out. Suspended between the crying cat’s howling in the window and the ringing of the telephone, the acronymic words, guttural and raw, wafted down the stairs to the guests sipping tea in the living room. Their host emitted an uncharacteristic onomatopoeic utterance, excusing herself from their presence, to check on her nephew hollering from the guest bedroom on the second floor. She couldn’t remember why she had agreed to let herself be saddled with this boorish lout. Placing one foot in front of the other, she laboriously climbed the stairs, his shouts growing louder in a cacophony with the crazy cat and his Blackberry screeching on his desk. As she entered what used to be her study, the inscription on the doorway sent her back to the day she agreed to take in her sister’s only son.

“Your debt is paid; bless you sister.”

[The word list: *unruly, *saddled, *suspended, *acronymic, *feverish, *onomatopoeic, *inscription].

To see the word list for today, hop on over the WordLush and take a peak. You never know what is going to be found in the spittoon!