Use the word of the day in a tweet and include #definethis. Daily winners when 3 or more ppl play. Prize goes to monthly winners.
Try this as a writing exercise. Each word is unusual, not well known. Don't feel less than brilliant if you have to look them up. So many are words I have heard and assumed I understood what they mean from the context they were used in. But, that doesn't mean I really understand the word.
Learn something new every day.
Watching replays of Corner Gas this morning. I think the Comedy Channel is running them 24 hours a day over the New Year.
The one on right now is where Brent goes on vacation, a staycation. He is sitting right at the gas station, wearing a Hawaiian shirt, but ignoring everyone. He even sends postcards from Dog River as if he was sending them from exotic locations.
If you were taking a vacation like Brent how would you make sure no one knew you were actually home? Could you hide in plain sight? Write yourself into the ultimate staycation.
Could you do some kind of good deed each and every day? What is a good deed? Maybe you are already doing good deeds and not thinking of them, or really valuing the deeds you do.
I think the good deeds people do are interesting. How far outside of your comfort zone does a person need to go to accomplish a good deed? How is a good deed measured? Does a good deed only count if others know about it, do you need praise in order to feel good about doing good? Is a good deed worth more if you do it without acknowledgment or thanks of any kind?
Write about a good deed you have done. Did you need to tell others about it? Did you need to be thanked? If you were not thanked did that bother you? What was the reaction to your good deed? Did you feel natural doing something good or did you feel out of place, or shy?
If you believe in karma and the good and evil sort of philosophies... is it possible that someone who has done a lot of bad things and caused great harm can still redeem themselves by being a gardener and giving back to life and goodness by creating good things in green ways? If the whole thing of life and having an afterlife of some kind is based on checks and balances can someone who has not been good to other people still be considered a good prospect for the afterlife if they have done good things with the other living creatures in our world? Or, do we as people think we are so self important that good deeds to plants and animals do not out weight bad deeds done to human beings?
Once you take time to think about this, write a character who isn't considered a good person and yet this same person has the most amazing garden which he/ she keeps themselves, working with their own hands to create it and keep it beautiful and growing.
The best place to seek God is in a garden. You can dig for him there. - George Bernard Shaw
I found this quote after I wrote this post. Just thought I'd find something nice to add about working in the garden. But, this is far more interesting.
From the Free Dictionary - Dystopia: an imaginary place where everything is as bad as it can be.
Dystopia is the opposite of a utopia. It's a pretty great word if you're a science fiction fan, like myself. I hadn't heard of it before. Or, at least I didn't remember it. My nephew started playing a new game on his PS3, BioShock. It's a real experience into dystopian societies. Pretty grim in fact. I was looking up more information about the storyline and characters when I came across the word dystopia in a write up about the game. So I had to look up the word. It was self explanatory really but still, I gave into temptation to find out more.
Exploring Dystopia - a forum for science fiction and horror fans. There is an old site too, pretty abandoned and comes with pop up ads and a thick banner on top. But the site itself is pretty cool if you overlook the ad junk. Too bad they didn't keep it up and move it to a different free host.
Suite101: Utopian/ Dystopian Fiction.
Dystopia - A cyberpunk game.