Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

I want to wish everyone a most wonderful Thanksgiving.

And, for Thesaurus Thursday, I thought it would be fun to use the word "turkey." Not the kind you eat, but the kind that, well....

Definition: One deficient in judgment and good sense.

Synonyms: ass, idiot, imbecile, jackass, mooncalf, moron, nincompoop, ninny, nitwit, simple, simpleton, softhead, tomfool

LOL...I just couldn't resist!

Happy Thanksgiving Giving!
Peace and Love,
Alannah

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Life should.....

LIFE should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, champagne in one hand, strawberries in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "Holy shit, what a ride!


(I actually have this on a little sign hanging next to my bed)

Have a wonderful day!
Peace and Love,
Alannah

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Wow!! Thank you, JennifersRandomMusings

I have made so many wonderful friends over the past year--through writing workshops, RWA online groups, through other writing friends and writing blogs. One of the wonderful people I've met is an avid reader and a phenomenal cheerleader. She's spent a lot of time in chat rooms with me and my writing buddies, giving us an encouraging word here and there and cheering us on when we didn't feel like writing.

Now, she's shown her support in another way. She's given me an award!!




I will try very, very hard to not disappoint.

Thanks so much, Jenn. And you check out her blog at http://jennifersrandommusings.wordpress.com/



Have a fantastic day!!
Peace and Love,
Alannah

Friday, November 21, 2008

update and upcoming schedule...

I just wanted to post a little hello to everyone, make sure you know I haven't dropped off the face of the earth and let you know that starting Monday I will be posting a new topic each Monday through Friday.

I'll start the week off right with an inspiring photo on Monday.
Tuesday will have either a writing tip or a motivational quote.
Wednesday will still be hump day humor.
Thursday will be thesaurus Thursday, like I did a few weeks ago.
And Friday...well, that's still undecided (I'm open for suggestions!).

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend and I'll see you on Monday!!!

Peace and Love,
Alannah

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Hump Day Humor...

An 8 pointer, 4 pointer and a button buck are standing by a field browsing on acorns.

The 8 pointer says, 'I'm happy with my 10 does, we're really getting along.'

The 4 pointer says, 'I'm happy as heck with my 5, they really take care of me!'

The Button buck says, 'My two are all right, better than nothing I guess.'

Then all of a sudden a GIANT 14 pointer walks out into the field. The three bucks had never seen anything like him before, they were in awe. The big buck made a huge scrape and pissed in it, rubbed a tree the size of a telephone pole and snapped it off at the ground!
The three bucks looked on in amazement.

The 8 pointer says, 'I could probably get by with 4 does...........Who really needs 10 anyway?'

The 4 pointer says, 'You know............. come to think of it, I only really use one or two of mine!'

The button buck was silent, as the other two bucks look over to him in confusion. Suddenly the yearling runs out into the middle of the field! He rips and tears up some grass........ pisses all over the place, snorts & wheezes, rubs his head raw on a tree and chews a licking branch clean off! Then he runs back over to his buddies.

His friends immediately ask him, 'What the hell are you doing!?'


'I'm just makin' sure that big sumbitch knows I'm a buck!'


Make it a great day everyone!
Peace and Love,
Alannah

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Wicked....

I've been trying to think of different things to put on my blog, to keep it fresh and updated and yet still be entertaining/amusing/informative. Gee, that's a pretty tall order!

One of the things I've come up with is Thesaurus Thursday.

There's a group of writers that I meet with online and we spend evenings and weekends writing and chatting. We've joked about having a "word for the day," and everyone agreed it sounded like fun. But we always forget.

Words are the tools of our trade, and to have a large vocabulary is helpful. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that I think you should use words that no one understands, just to be impressive. In fact, if you use too many words the reader doesn't understand you risk pulling them out of the story and frustrating them. But the more varied the language, the better.

So, I thought it might be fun to do that on Thursdays. And today's word is "Wicked."

I realized over the weekend that I was using that word a lot. "The hero flashed a wicked smile." "The wicked intent was evident in his expression." I pulled out my Synonym Finder and holy cow! "Wicked" takes up 1/2 a column. But, for my purposes, here's the list of options:

immoral, dissolute, dissipated, abandoned, profligate, reprobate, debauched, lewd, lecherous, lascivious, lustful, libidinous, licentious, salacious, prurient, carnal, wanton, unchaste, concupiscent, promiscuous, obscene, indecent, impish, mischievous, elfish, prankish, naughty

slang - masterly, expert, skillful, proficient, deft, adept


The cool thing about using various words, is that sometimes the whole sentence (and maybe even the paragraph) gets reworked. Changing one word will make you look at the sentence completely different. And it usually ends up being a much stronger and expressive sentence.

For example, instead of "The wicked intent was evident in his expression." I could say, "His hooded eyes and heated gaze said the debauchery was about to begin."

Seeing "debauched" on the list changed my thought process and the direction of the sentence.

Now it's your turn. How would you change that sentence to make it stronger and more original?

Hope it's a great day for everyone!
Peace and Love,
Alannah

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Hump Day Humor...

A friend sent this video to me in an e-mail, and I have to say, I watch it every now and then when I need a good laugh. I think I might know this guy! LOL

Hope you enjoy it as much as I have!!