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7 Random Thoughts on a Thursday

1. Validation. Something you try and convince yourself you don’t need until you receive it out of the blue and then you realize you’re human and you do need it. At least sometimes.

2. Do passive aggressive types who attempt to bait you into debate realize we’re well aware of what they’re doing? Because we are.

3. Facebook for Authors — a helpful discussion with moi and the lovely kid lit author Katie Davis. Check out podcast part 1 and podcast part 2 — both FREE. Thanks, Katie, for inviting me onto your show.

4. Insight into me: if you’re trying to convince me to do something, telling me, “But think of all the fodder you’ll get for a novel” isn’t persuasive. Honest. I have enough ideas for novels to last me a lifetime. I think it was Flannery O’Connor who said if you’ve survived childhood and adolescence, you’re set as a writer. This is true. So you’ll need to come up with other arguments to get me to do whatever it is you want me to do.

5. I’m happiest when I’m deep into a draft. Nothing — and I mean nothing — compares to the joy it brings me.

6. I’m not a slaw or kraut kinda girl.

7. The saddest story I’ve heard in a long time is this one. RIP, Marina Keegan.

Share some of your random thoughts in the comments. #7RandomThoughts

7 Random Thoughts on a Thursday

1. I own a pair of Pajama Jeans. I live in them. But, interestingly enough, I’ve never slept in them.

2. Scatology is the scientific study of excrement. Who knew? And you’re welcome.

3. In his book Linchpin: Are You Indispensable, Seth Godin says, “It’s not an effort contest. It’s an art contest.” I agree with that.

4. Maybe someday when I get an email with the word “Beloved” in the subject line it will be from someone like George Clooney, and not some spammer promising me a million-dollar inheritance if I just provide certain info, like my birthday, social security number, and bra size.

5. I’m recording a podcast today with children’s author Katie Davis who wants to talk to me about all things Facebook. She’s taken my FB obsession for expertise. Hope I don’t disappoint. I’ll announce when the podcast is live. She also talks about me in her latest podcast, which you can listen to here.

6. Bored? Try coffin racing.

7. Just finished reading one of my favorite author’s latest books: Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son’s First Son by Anne Lamott and Sam Lamott. I swear, the woman gets in my head and can read my thoughts and fears and dreams and everything.

What random thoughts have you had this week? Share some in the comments.

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How Titanic Saved My Life

Okay, the title might be a little overly dramatic, but let me explain. First of all, this memory has come flooding back (see what I did there?), thanks to the re-release of Titanic in 3D. I saw the original for the first time in December of 1997 (with my beloved) and was wowed, just like everyone else.

I then went on to see the flick another three times (at least) in the spring of 1998, and here’s why: my beloved and I had broken up, and I was, quite simply, devastated.

I was a young pup — I’d just turned 25 — and my heart was breaking, and no, Celine Dion, it didn’t feel like it would go on. This was before the Internet had taken off and everyone had email. Facebook didn’t exist, nor the smart phones and texting and online Scrabble we’ve come to know and love today. Time went by so slowly back then, but even more so for me in that stretch of spring circa 1998 when every minute it seemed my tender little heart ached and broke some more. I needed distractions, something to fill the endless, empty hours. Enter Titanic. I mean, there’s nothing like a 3.5 hour movie to kill off a chunk of time.

Yes, it might seem odd that I opted for a flick with a love story — and a sad one — at its heart, but I had few choices. So off to the theater I went, by myself, when I didn’t think I could stand another moment in my body. The hours I stared at the screen with glazed, red, and puffy eyes saved me.

I’ve seen the movie probably a dozen times since then and know much of the dialogue word-for-word. I haven’t seen it in 3D and don’t know if I will. The memories it’s stirred up are enough.

But it’s those memories and experiences, I think, that shape and complete us (corny sounding, even as I write it, but it’s true), and, for me, all of it has inspired me, my writing, and my vision for my future.

It’s taken me fourteen years to feel this way, but I’m grateful for all of it, and I am, finally, at peace.

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7 Random Thoughts on a Thursday

1. It’s a gaggle of geese, a school of fish, and — get this — a “kindle of kittens.” I’m surprised Amazon hasn’t done something with this yet.

2. I think you know you’ve made it as a writer when someone else cares about your book more than you do.

3. Isn’t all romance paranormal?

4. The only complex things I want in my life are carbohydrates.

5. Anyone who has ever taken a standardized test knows what a #2 pencil is. Question: what are #1 pencils used for? Do they exist?

6. The true definition of a stealth mission: you’re in Stop & Shop, un-showered and in a bad mood, and you spy someone you know, and you spend the rest of your shopping trip ducking down aisles and hiding behind displays and praying to God that the person didn’t — and doesn’t —  see you. You’d abandon your cart, but the cat needs food and the only thing in your fridge is chunky milk and a mushy cucumber.

7. Red Solo Cup. I’m late to this party, but I can’t get the tune out of my head, and I love the back story about how the song got made in the first place. I’m embedding the video below, but don’t blame me when the earworm strikes you.

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Inspiration, circa 1980

When I was kid, I loved going to the movies. General Cinema was the big theater in town, and one of my favorite moments was after the previews and before the movie started when the General Cinema clouds would appear with this soaring music — music that made my skin tingle and my heart beat faster and my imagination spin with possibilities.

I knew at a very young age that I wanted — that I needed — to create, and this “thing” inside me stirred whenever the clouds appeared and the music played, almost as if the two were a trigger to remind a dormant piece of my soul what it was being called to do.

I was thinking about the clouds and the music the other day, struggling to describe them and wondering if I could somehow find them online. I googled “general cinema clouds,” and the first item to show up was a YouTube video of what’s called “the policy trailer” (I never knew it had a name). I’m embedding it below. About 32 seconds in you’ll see my clouds and hear my music, and if you listen closely, you might hear my soul singing, too.

 

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7 Random Thoughts on a Thursday

1. Lately, three boxes have been controlling my life: inbox, outbox, cat box.

2. If you’ve been with someone long enough, everything holds a memory.

3. Human knees are ugly, even on models and hot guys. We’re essentially walking around in version 1.0 knees, people.

4. Realization #334: I like ’em tall, dark, and tortured, apparently.

5. I get that funeral homes are running a business and that they should embrace social media like any other business, but it’s still weird to see them pop up on FB and Twitter.

6. Blah boink what is this Poop heh! That’s how I feel about the Republican primary (and I imagine it’s how I’ll feel about the general election as well).

7. “Rain on the West Side Highway, red light at Riverside: the more I live the more I think two people together is a miracle.” RIP, Adrienne Rich. And thank you.

Wishing my readers a blessed Passover and a blessed Easter. Peace! xoxo

 

Robyn Bradley, Writer

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