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Last night I had a dream about a man who was stuck in a tree. He was dying as no one could get him out of the tree. It was on the news and heaps of people had gathered around the tree to show support. It was a very sad dream.

Dreams – they make impossible things seem perfectly normal, they make you look at people in knew ways and test  the limits of your mind. I have always had really vivid dreams that are often preposterous and quite often make me wake up feeling confused. Despite that I think I would be lost without them. Despite them being strange and sometimes scary I enjoy them on one level. Waking up and thinking about what my mind has managed to create whilst I’m slumbering is quite interesting. I think I should buy a dream diary and start writing snippets of them down.

**

Yesterday I went to the library to study. It’s a new thing I was trying and I enjoyed it. I didn’t get as much done as I had envisioned heh, but it was a nice environment to study in and I didn’t take my laptop which made for a nice change – screen and internet distraction free.

After that I went to Aromaflex, an aromatherapy store that I recently discovered. I could spend hours in there soaking up all the good smells.

I want to go and do this weekend aromatherapy course that they run but it costs $200 so not sure if that will happen.

**

Today it is pouring down with rain so that is what I want to write about;

She runs, free, through the deep puddles,

Careless and oblivious,

Her mittens once pink, are now soaked and muddy,

Her hair knotted by the wind,

Her cheeks red from the cold,

She is lost amongst the rain drops,

That fall steadily from a steely sky,

Her little body bounces from murky puddle to puddle,

She is a the splodge of colour against the gloom,

And she darts about, giggling,

Mother would have said, take a raincoat,

And would frown at her dirty pants,

But today the girl is alone,

Free to spin in circles in the rain,

As the rain protects her from the rest of the world,

So my poor blog as been slightly abandoned and right now I should be going to be but write I must!

Birthday cake and economy you ask?

Whenever I must write a title for my blog I sit for a while and think about what’s new in my world, what’s been happening, what have I learnt.

Well today I learnt two things.

1) When making chocolate cake you really should wear a swimming cap because you will get fudge frosting in your hair (and everywhere else.

2) We live in a money- mad society that is unfortunately falling apart. We all have a ridiculous addiction to spending and gaining and this is what our entire society is built on. Essentially, we’re doomed. Lucky I have chocolate cake.

And yes, I have been watching more zietguist.

I feel like a should really write a lot more about this as I have numerous opions on the topic but it’s heavy stuff and 12.29am. Bed calls, so I’ll save that for another time.

What else is new in my life? Fabulous flannel pyjamas with robots on them and new books arriving in the mail, managing to get through some more assignments, the realisation that every relationship contains two people, that are individuals and ultimately need their own space. Also; I would love a holiday, perhaps I could buy one of those on trademe. Oh and my partner turns 21 tomorrow – hence the cake.

I should go to bed though, I have to get up early to greet the courier.

I will write more soon. Maybe about something slightly more interesting.

x

So it’s Sunday and the 3rd day of April. Starting to get colder now. I’m looking forward to scrumptious winter clothes – snuggly coat, knitted dresses, new pyjamas, socks and rainy days inside writing and reading, adventures in the cold, snuggles in bed, bed in general.

Going to miss the sun though; the big shiny beast in the sky that makes us burnt and sweaty – oh how we loath it when it is upon us, oh how we long for it in the gloomy winter months.

I just bought the Best Pair Of Pants Ever, the first pair of pants I’ve bought in aaaaaaaaaaages. Lovely skinny cargos. Mmm. I forsee that I will be living in these pants. One cannot beat the all in one comfy and classy pants. Yes!

Enough about pants that I can’t really afford…

Tucked away somewhere in a neat little folder on my neat little desktop is a document entitled ‘Fabulous Fiction Writing Prompts’ which contains a giant list of questions to tickle the mind and set ideas careering off in my cotton wool brain.

One of those questions is this;

What would happen if it really did rain cats and dogs?

Here are some thoughts I had

Well gosh wouldn’t that be a crisis? I guess it depends on if it happened once out of the blue or if it was simply the norm. I hate to think what state these poor creatures would be in, unless they had super powers. There would be a terrible mess; the streets littered with furry carcasses and I’d imagine a great number of terrible accidents too. How bout it? You’re driving along listening to some relaxing tunes after a tireing day at the office and BAM your hit by a border collie falling from the sky.

Or would this be like one of those disasters that everyone must be for-warned about. “Better stay at home today folks looks like we are in for a bout of cats and dogs, but that should clear by this afternoon.”

Maybe we would drive special automobiles that would provide a safe landing for the fallin’ cats and dogs; a rooftop trampoline or a big spongy mattress. Maybe we would stand outside with big nets outstretched.Or maybe we would have in place all over the city big nets spread out to collect the felines tumbling towards earth.

Imagine the sound of it on your colour steal roof. The mighty thuds as canine upon canine came raining down.

Imagine the possibilities.

There are thousands I suppose. But only a few can fit in my little head

Peace.

The above quote is by a Jessamyn West. I like quotes and I also like books (as you might have gathered by now).

For the last two years I have a had a growing addiction to Trade Me. When we moved I was obssessed with looking at furniture and nice housy things. Yesterday I developed a fascination with all the millions of books on offer. There are currently 9 on my watchlist, this number will continue to grow, no doubt.

But it does have a point. Yesterday feeling all inspired and such I did some deep thinking about my goals and and my writing ambitions and I thought about My Book that I want to write.

I realise at about 2am yesterday morning (in between dreams) that I was missing something. A personal library. For reference, inspiration, ideas and just the pure joy of collecting books – being the hoarder that I am..

So I am now embarking on an epic book collecting venture. As well as my Trade Me watchlist I started making a list of books that I need to obtain, so far the list goes something like this;

A collection of Roald Dahl books
This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen (one of my favourite books from when I was a teen)
The Tomorrow When the War Began series
A good atlas
A book of baby names (purely for inspiration when creating characters heh)
A book of quotations/ proverbs

The list is not complete of course.

And some time this morning after having an absolutely terrifying dream I also thought that I should get a book about the human body, a dictionary of illnesses, an encyclopedia …and the list goes on. Of course this is all thinking long term as it will be no cheap venture.

I think I will write more later. I need some tea.

Glass of white wine  to the right, smoke curling from the incense stick in the corner and a crisp, blank piece of paper. Oh the possibilities. The ideas bounce off each other in my mind, phrases spinning past, careering out of control. The landscape of ideas is colossal.

Here are some of thoughts in my head right now.

There is a little old man called Malcolm. He’s used to a quiet life, he likes cats and getting the mail. He’s also a character in a short story I started writing today. I made myself a challenge for one of my assignments.

Here is a quick intro to assignment;

• Each story must be between 500 and 3000 words long.
• Your total word count must be no more than 4,000 words, and no fewer than 3,500.

Now, my challenge is this. To write one of the above stories in around 500 words. I’m used to rambling on with lengthy descriptions. So, I thought, this time I would attempt to write something short and snappy. (I’m already working on a “long, rambly piece” for the other part of the assignment).

Malcolm has found a notebook in a taxi, full of names. One of those names is his, so he takes the notebook home for further inspection.

Now I must decide his fate.

There are few ideas tumbling around up there in the grey fog. I’m guna sleep on it.

One thing I should mention is this. My story has to fit some requirements. It has to have structure, conflict and an underlying theme.

What else, what else…

I just watched a movie called ‘The Wackness’  (2008 by Jonathan Lavine) It was rather ‘wack’. It’s about a drug dealer and his troubles. Mostly I think its about love and the different forms it can take. I actually quite enjoyed, I’m quite partial to weird movies

I think I might call it a day and do some course exercise. I have to write about someone being mauled by a large dog – not all bad, I also get to save them. More on this later.

Goodnight.

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

– Albert Schweitzer

One thing that we regularly learn about on my course is the different sides of writing; the different types of writers. One example of this is impulsive writers vs plotters. Impulsive writers just right,without plans – that’s the box I fit in. Plotters on the other hand plan first and write later.

Today I looked at some notes on subjective and objective writing. Subjective is writing in a descriptive manner, using emotion and opinion. Objective writing states facts – is plain and to the point, nothing is left up to the interpretation of the reader.

My point here is that as I learn about the different aspects of writing and the different kinds of writers I am learning about my weaknesses – this isn’t a bad thing.

I have always been a subjective writer and find it hard to write objectively. Objective writing has its place and is a useful skill. Learning about my ‘weak writing muscles’ is really valuable. At school I knew that I was ‘a good writer’. But this course is helping me to see that I am still developing and learning and that, ultimately, I am not a good writer yet. The flip side of this is that I have the potential to become a good writer – maybe one day a great writer.

This is highly liberating. Because it feels a lot more genuine that being told that I am good at writing. Knowing that you have the potential to be great at something is a powerful thing. Something that everyone should have. If I think about the people closest to me I can see that they all have this too. Or some of them, like my mother and father, are already experiencing those things that they are great at.

Everybody should be given the chance to see their true potential and the opportunity to strive to achieve it.

And here is my objective/ subjective writing exercise.

Objective

The bed is queen sized and sits in the centre of the room. It measures 5 by 6 feet and consists of a mattress and base resting on 8 wooden legs. The bed is dressed with a blue flannelet sheet, a black duvet with coloured square and a blank mink blanket. The bed has 2 pillows with black pillowcases positioned at the top of the bed. The bed is 10 years old and sags in the middle. A black valance covers the bed base. The bed sits under a window that measures 1 by 2 metres. Thick olive coloured curtains cover the windows.

Subjective

The bed is my sanctuary. It is squishy and worn with age but still provides comfort and a good night’s sleep. It is the centre piece of the room and a comfortable place to read as the afternoon sun streams through the large window at the head of the bed. The bed is dressed with class; the warm sky blue sheet is hidden under a puffy duvet and a soft, black, mink blanket. At the top of the bed rest my pillow and yours, both shaped by heavy sleeping heads into ‘just right’.  Whilst it might have been a ‘trade me bargain’, I still count it as one of my top 5 places in the world.

“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.”

Ashley Smith

Some good old sticktoitiveness and here I am writing my second post – keeping it short.

Today I completed (hopefully) my second assignment – research. And I’ll admit, I’m stoked with the outcome. I hope Sue is too.

In fact that’s mostly what I did today.

So this is a bit of skimpy post but will add more later.

Several hours later…

When I said that I was going to add more to this post I didn’t realise that it would be at 12.05 am, but apparently I have become something of a night owl. So I am in bed, but not sleeping.

So I have sort of completed 3 of 9 assessments…6 definitely sounds more feasible =]

This blog relates to one of my writing goals – simply, to write more. I hope it works.

I guess I should ‘introduce myself’..

Well I am Laura, a word connoisseur in training  (and yes I had to look up how to spell connoisseur) and I am at the ripe old age of 19.

Henry David Thoreau said “Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.” Thoreau did say some wise things and I particularly agree with this one. Why are we living if not for our dreams? The other night I said ‘Life isn’t about the end result – it’s about all the things that happen on the way there” I was then asked, “Do you think we have a purpose?” and I answered, “I think our purpose is simply to find  the answers to our own questions.”

I guess this is where I share my thoughts and revelations with the world, or at least one corner of it.