Juliet at Crafty Green Poet challenged her visitors to take a go at this meme, and I confess it daunted me... which is why I decided to face my fear and do it.
Sometimes I think I was born with a genetically imprinted need to write. My maternal grandfather penned several never-published novels and I feel like I inherited his unfulfilled dream; from an early age I've fantasized about an illustrious career as an author (and as the world's first archaeologist ballerina; it could happen).
Sadly, most of my ideas for books have been rather hackneyed and lame; the only viable one has been for a historical tome about my great-great grandfather, an architect from Maine who left his family and went to the Klondike for the gold rush (which would be a strictly academic analysis and annotation of his Klondike diary).
I'd love to have my poetry published, but have only done so twice (and it was ages ago), so the thought of an entire book... boggles my mind. But I'm willing to try a bit of positive visualization in the form of a meme.
Ten signs a book is written by Chicklegirl:
1) It's dedicated to my grandpa, Clark Cottrell, Jr.
2) It is most likely poetry or nonfiction
3) It will make readers laugh (hopefully on purpose)
4) It probably contains too many four-syllable words
5) It has lots of pictures
6) It will make readers cry (also on purpose)
7) People who purchase it will feel they got their money's worth
8) People who borrow it from the library will decide to buy their own copy
9) It is short enough to leave readers wanting more
10) It won't inspire a string of slickly-produced Hollywood blockbusters starring Angelina Jolie as a buxom archaeologist/poet/ballerina who finds the Holy Grail and vanquishes the undead with a lethal combination of free verse and grand battement
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6 comments:
but, angelina jolie is hot. but that's just my opinion. i think your idea for a historical book about your grandfather is a fantastic one. and you should pursue it. which poems of yours were published?
Excellent answers (especially number 10!) Thanks for joining in....
Aubrey, way back when I was 14 I won an honorable mention in the "New Era" contest for writing. Four years later one of my poems was published (here's the link, it's way at the bottom, called "Sneakers"). I've had a couple other things published in school literary magazines, too, including "Total Recall", which I wrote back in college. Recently I've tried submitting poetry to some online magazines, but so far no takers.
Two things: one, bits and pieces of one of your high school poems..."I Hope You Didn't Miss the Sunrise"...? still float through my head. :)
And two, I would totally go see the movie you describe in #10! It sounds as if, like "Snakes on a Plane," it would live up to exactly 100% of my expectations. Heh.
i love your sneakers poem. and remember the total recall from a while ago. very nice, katie.
Kim, I can't believe you remember that poem--I had to go find it and re-read it. Just for you, I'll post it one of these days.
You'd see that movie? Maybe I missed my calling as a screen writer (surely I could do better than George Lucas at writing dialog). Oh wait--that was sarcasm.
Aubrey, thanks. The sneakers were real, but my dad throwing them away? Completely fabricated for the poem.
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