You've just been hired to write greeting cards. They expect you to come up with at least 10 good ideas and one great idea each day. Not easy. But, if you can come up with some unique or modern events and situations that might help.

What kind of greeting card could you come up with for a divorce? What about a third marriage? How about a greeting card for a couple who have just adopted a child, not a baby? There are a lot of situations not covered by the standard display of greeting cards. Write 10, and then one more. Pick your best, send it in to a greeting card company and get paid for your writing doodle.

For the Thursday Thirteen: 13 Things I Like

1. Reading science fiction and the odd paranormal romance. Also reading fiction about web publishing and related topics.

2. Taking photos of abandoned farm houses or old buildings in general, the more fancy stone, iron and wood work the more I like them.

3. The way my hair looks when I brush it after a shampoo. It doesn't look all that great if I get lazy and don't brush it. Sadly, I get hair lazy quite often.

4. Having someone (preferably male) even sort of ask me out. Even sort of being asked out is nicer than the usual day of not being noticed and feeling like a big nobody.

5. Finding something really interesting and new (to me) in an area of arts. Especially if it is something I can do myself or find a way to adapt and do myself. DIY is great.

6. Being a grrl. Even if I am not into all the fashion and beauty which is like a female law (look at all those guys who want to be grrls, they seem to OD on it or is that really just a stereotype?) I am still a woman and I wouldn't want to be a guy.

7. Rocks. I'm not sure what causes my fascination with stone, rocks, polished pebbles, etc but I can not see a photo of rocks and not stop and look. I have rocks collected which are somewhere around here in all the clutter.

8. I like not having a routine. Or, as little routine as I can get away with not having. I don't like words like duty. My Grandmother loved words like that. She thought I was crazy, literally, not as a joke in any way.

9. Coffee when it's lovely and smooth and not sweet. French vanilla and caramel lattes are really good. Gingerbread used to be good but was kind of yucky over the holidays this year. I think they tried to make it fit what they thought people wanted instead of just sticking with a good thing when they had it.

10. My eyes. Or would that be my eyeballs since you can't really have one without the other. But I like my eyelids too, they fit nicely around my eyeballs and keep them from falling out. My eyes are blue. But not literally, I'm not a space alien.

11. I like holidays when we get paid to not go to work. But I like them for the spirit of being something special we can look forward to each year. It is kind of weird to think that the holidays will still be there, every year, even long after I'm not still here. Not that I'm making plans to not be here. I just didn't get any guarantee otherwise.

12. I like blogging. Real personal blogging where it is just here for me to experiment with. I like that people read it and give opinions and feedback and ideas. Thank you to everyone who does read this and extra thanks for comments. I read them all and I do make some effort to visit in return and leave a comment so you know I was there. I'm not always successful at returning visits and I feel crushing (well not crushing entirely) guilt over it.

13. Dragons. I'm a wood dragon by Chinese astrology. It is the only "fantasy" (meaning fantastic and likely overly blown ego) creature in the zodiac. Kind of nice to be unique (among the masses of dragons) in some way. I don't let it go to my head. Sure I don't.

Blog Talkers: What book is on your nightstand now? Tell us about it, post a blurb. If you're reading it, do you like it? If you haven't started, what are your expectations? Would you recommend it to a good friend? What type of stories do you like to read the most often? Why?

I'm reading the last in the The Circle trilogy by Nora Roberts, her vampire paranormal fiction try. The writing is ok but I find her books kind of drag on and then have a few good spots, just enough to keep you going to the end. But, overall I wouldn't add her as one of my favourites.

I don't keep books on my nightstand. I always have the book I'm reading crammed into my purse for any moment I manage to get away for a coffee after work and before catching the bus for home/ work.

My favourite reading is something science fiction. I really like stories about the end of the world/ civilization and how people manage to regroup and survive a huge change to their lifestyle and the planet itself. I read one (which I can't remember the title or author now) about having a biochemical in the air which caused all oil based products, like plastic, gas, etc, to break down and dissolve. That made an interesting story, had a huge impact on everyday life and the planet too.

I also read paranormal fiction. Also known as the vampire stuff. I resisted all the vampire stuff for a few years as it become more and more popular. I finally started reading it cause the writers I like were writing it. I still am not a vampire groupie but I like the aspect of it being another culture, underground and yet existing with the everyday. I think the book I have most liked lately as just a story idea was Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. It was also an underground culture, existing on the fringes of our own. Mainly I like anything written well, not violent and gross, which is about something really creative which show a change in the day to day existence, an option not considered in the everyday normal stuff.

I can think of a lot of things I'd rather be doing than going to work today. Here are just 13 in no particular order...

1. Being kidnapped for a romantic evening with someone I like even though he has awful bad breath and an oozing sore on his back.

2. Finding a winning lottery ticket even though it expired last week.

3. Shopping in my favourite bookstore, even after realizing I forgot my wallet at home and can't buy anything.

4. Eating chocolate on chocolate cheesecake even if it means I will gain 20 pounds.

5. Backpacking through Europe even though I get chased by wild dogs halfway through the trip and never do get past Venice.

6. On a fancy, luxurious woodland retreat, all expenses paid... even though the blackflies try to eat me alive each time I step outside.

7. Being given a free year of Second Cup lattes even though I have to sit through several hours of a telemarketing time share scam first.

8. Getting up close to the wild cats in the zoo, really getting to pet them and feel all that fur... though at some point one of the cougars gets a bit too friendly and I almost lose an eye.

9. Finding a bag full of cash even though when I take it home to count (over $100,000!) there's a deadly poisonous lizard at the bottom of the bag and I have to drag myself to the hospital for the anti venom or die in agony.

10. Riding a real, live dragon which I get to be friends with and travel around the world, free.... as long as I can hang on... it's a really, really long way down.

11. Decorating a house of my own, my dream house and yard, even though it's on right beside a really busy subway station in downtown Toronto where all kinds of litter blows into my precious yard.

12. Having my first book published and get a lot of great media attention but still flop mightily cause Oprah said she didn't care for it all that much.

13. A free visit to the dentist, have all the work I need done free, for as long as I can sit in the chair while he drills into my head.

I think work is starting to sound better after that dentist thing... Hi Ho.. Hi Ho... It's off to work I go....

Happy Thursday Thirteen!

BlogTalkers: When was the last time you were afraid? What scared you? And how did you conquer your fears as a child? How do you conquer your fears today? What scares you the most? Do you have nightmares? If so, what are they? What was the most bizarre nightmare you've ever had? What was the most bizarre nightmare anyone has ever told you?

I'm still afraid of the dark. It's silly but true. Last night doing laundry in the basement I had to go down into the dark room and feel around the corner for the light switch. Just a bit creepy to reach out into the dark. My other worst nightmares were around the time I was immigrating to the US and marrying down there. I dreamed all my hair and teeth were falling out.

My worst nightmares have been where the devil came to see me. Kind of funny cause I don't believe in hell or the devil. But it was the scariest, most real feeling dream I ever had. I had the same kind of dream twice, different locations where he was wearing different clothes and faces.

I try not to have fears about things like spiders, toads, etc. Those are all such little things, fun kind of things to be afraid of when you think of the really big things out there. I'm afraid I will die an old wretched bag lady, alone and without a roof over my head. I'm afraid I won't ever have a real place of my own to feel and be at home. Those are real things to be afraid of. Spiders just don't have much on that.