Creative Writing…Wordplay Wednesday: “glocal”

Today’s Wordplay Wednesday, creative writing exercise, is the word “glocal.”

  • Yes, global and local have been matched up – according to Dictionary.com. One meaning is “relating to the interconnection of a global and local issue.”
  • All well and good, an interesting new word, wouldn’t you say?  Now, say it out loud – gloh-kuhl… Doesn’t it sound terrible? Cah, cah, cah sort of a cough or spit to it? In this exercise, the sound is what interests me about the word.

Wordplay Wednesday exercise: Write a 200 word, or less, character sketch using the word “glocal.”  Enjoy creative writing, give it a try? Here’s my version…

  • Brainstorming: I envision a character in a pricey grocery store saying glocal in an awkward or funny way. 

WPW Character Sketch:

After staring down the counter of faux-sugared bake goods, and despairing over each croissant calorie in her GoodEats app, Willow sipped her Sulawesi Toarco coffee. It was tepid at best. Still she savored it, sipping in the little liquid quarters, of the stingingly high priced brew. Luke warm or not she would finish the whole $8.oo coffee. It was glocal after all, the Indonesian beans imported and freshly roasted in the store that morning, according to the bright-eyed Barista boy in the skintight black jeans. Although could you trust a person who sold you an $8.00 coffee? Willow wasn’t sure as she swallowed another liquid fifty cents.

Then she spotted Trent trotting up to the coffee line, his long arms and plate sized forehead glistened with sweat from his work out at the gym.

“How’s the coffee?” Trent winked, still hoping for a text response she knew.

“Great it’s glocal.” Willow unnervingly coffee-spit as she said it. The wet glob landed on Trent’s day-glo sneakers.  A split second of horror washed over her. Then, she grinned at Trent’s disgusted expression and realized her $8.00 coffee had also bought her freedom from texting him back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of Cephalopods and Dragons

256px-Octopus_vulgaris
Photo credit

Fighting with dragons while writing a middle grade fantasy novel…

One of the things writers try to avoid are the old played out tropes – unless you can make them fresh- for me I wanted to avoid a classic of many fantasy novels- dragons. Why, because I didn’t think I could make a dragon anew, or if I tried, I would need a huge dose of “dragon Febreze,”(choose your favorite air-freshener here:)  Of course, so many writers had done dragons well in fantasy books for ages. But dragons simply weren’t for me.

In fact, to some degree, I was purposefully avoiding dragons – not wanting to get “tropey,” with my work, yes, but imaginatively speaking, I felt a bit trailed by them, LOL. I was born in the year of the dragon, work in a school that has a dragon mascot and my father worked for a company that used a dragon as its figure head.

Then as often happens when you try to avoid something it comes to you.

My dragon came to me, in the form of Science Friday Cephalopod Week. My writer’s brain billowed in the fascinating  watery world of octopus eyes, jeweled suckers and beautiful brains and whoosh, my water dragon was born. A different dragon that felt fresh to me with a dose of octopus and science air-freshener.

I recently saw the author Elizabeth Gilbert, in an art forum, discuss her book Big Magic Creative Life Beyond Fear. I am a believer in the type of creative magic she describes. Simple connections that creative thinking morphs together when one regularly puts butt in chair.  Who knew the dragon I did not want to include in my middle grade novel would be born on National Cephalopod Week?

 

 

Summer Reading A-Z

FullSizeRender
Summer reading A-D

As a librarian, I am good friends with alphabetical order. I am having fun creating my summer reading list of 26 books – in alphabetical order by title or author – LOL.  Excited to start summer reading – today:)

Here is the top of the reading pile, A-D: 

All middle grade titles (ages 9-12)

Audacity Jones by Kirby Larson  Hoping indeed that “everything will turn out splendid in the end” as the book blurb entices…

The BFG  by Roald Dahl (again- yes, because of the movie)

The Candymakers by Wendy Mass (on audio so I can tangle  – see other part of this blog if you are interested in finding out what tangling is… I started this novel some time ago, but so many kids wanted it from the library – I had to let it go… excited for the audio version.

DiCamillo, Kate  Raymie Nightingale  Because it is by Kate DiCamillo:) 

Hope your summer reading is off to a good start too:)