The Question

How to dispose of coffee grounds – that is the question. As a recent graduate from a plastic Mr. Coffee machine to a stainless steel french press, I find the question of what to do with the grounds both nostalgic and interesting. Since my garden is 8 steps from my front door, I’m doing what my mom did years ago – putting the coffee grounds into the soil around the rose bush.

Please leave a comment with your first 50 words on the topic “the question” or on some topic suggested by the photo.

Read Full Post »

Introvert

Are you an introvert? Most writers are, I think. Who else could sit alone in a room typing for days on end? I say thank goodness for introverts. There are more good qualities among introverts than just the ability to be alone without going nuts. For example, . . .

Please leave a comment with your first 50 words on the topic “introvert.”

Read Full Post »

Gimme a nickle

Nickles are rare these days. If you’re digging through your change in an effort to pay $1.08 for something, it may be hard to find a nickle. Worse than rarity, to me, is the fact that nickles and quarters look so much alike now. It’s hard to tell them apart. I have a peculiar affection for nickles, because when I was very young I could take a nickle down the block to the El Capitan Hotel in my home town of Rocky Ford and buy a package of Juicy Fruit gum or a Milky Way bar. Like many things in life, those days are long gone.

Please leave a comment with your first 50 words on the topic “gimme a nickle.”

Read Full Post »

Writers, are you tweeting?

The other day I was talking with a published author who revealed she had no website and did not use Twitter. I assume that most of you who comment here have a website or blog, but are you tweeting? A few years back I talked to my local writers group – Southwest Writers Workshop – about how writers can use Twitter to promote their work. I’m posting the slides I used for that here. Hope it helps some of you Twitter newbies.

Twitter For Writers from Virginia DeBolt

Please leave a comment with your first 50 words on the topic “writers, are you tweeting?” If you use Twitter to promote yourself as a writer, feel free to leave your Twitter name as a comment.

Read Full Post »

Dear Lesbian Bloggers, Isn’t it Time to Forgive?

[Note: This isn't my usual writing prompt. If you want to use it as a writing prompt, take "time to forgive" and run with it.]

I’m asking you, dear lesbian blogging colleagues, isn’t it time to forgive Ilene Chaiken and The L Word for not being perfect? I’m not a lesbian blogger, so I fully I realize the hypocrisy of me chastising you, but let me explain my thinking.

Season 6 promo image from The L Word

I don’t have Showtime, so I didn’t start watching The L Word until it was off the air. I watched DVDs sent to me by Netflix. I was hooked on the large cast filled with women from the first episode. I wanted to be there in The Planet with them, having morning coffee and listing all the euphemisms for vagina I could imagine.

While I was busy relishing the refreshing impact of a drama featuring mostly female characters, I looked around the blogosphere for reviews and comments on this show I thought was so fabulous. That’s when I discovered lesbian blogs and bloggers.

Ilene Chaiken (in white) at BlogHer09 via Flickr

I surfed around among many lesbian writers, sampling what they had to say about The L Word. I was surprised when I discovered a plethora of complaints, vilifications, and shaming. Nobody liked Ilene Chaiken. Nobody was satisfied with the plot. The characters were all too pretty. It wasn’t realistic. Everyone was mad because Dana died. Everyone hated Jenny. And on, an on, and on. Strangely, however, everyone seemed familiar with every episode.

That was a couple of years ago. From the many lesbian blogs I looked at back then, only two have remained on my regular reading list: Dorothy Snarker’s Dorothy Surrenders and the big group blog After Ellen. Why those two? Well, although Dorothy Snarker posts a fair number of eye candy posts, she also writes serious posts. When she does, they are exemplary: thoughtful, well-written and full of emotional impact. I admire good writing, and I agree with her stance on equality for all LGBT people. After Ellen has a variety of posts, but often reviews or talks about movies and TV shows that I watch. The recaps of TV shows that After Ellen publishes are sometimes hilarious and often better than the shows themselves. I support the values and societal changes that After Ellen endorses and promotes. After Ellen gives me insight.

Yet each time something related to Ilene Chaiken or The L Word comes up on After Ellen, there is still that continuing little dig, that continuing little echo of complaint.

Even as that continues, The L Word has become like Shakespeare or the Bible as a point of reference. A quote or a scene from The L Word is as well known to the lesbian community as any quote from Shakespeare or the Bible or any other cultural focal point. That says to me that most lesbians know everything there is to know about The L Word! Because in spite of all the kvetching, they’ve seen every episode more than once. In spite of the complaining, it was important and it mattered to them. It created a common vocabulary, a common means of connecting one cultural event with another, a common history that informs everything that followed.

When Sarah Shahi guest stars on Chicago Fire and says to her hunky fireman, “I’ll dance. You can just watch,” the image of Sarah Shahi dancing for Shane (Kate Moennig) in her undies in The L Word enters the head of everyone who ever watched The L Word. Because it’s a shared reference point. Like Shakespeare, the dots connect and the image applies to multiple situations.

Pick a scene. Any scene. If there is even a remote connection to a scene in The L Word, it will be recognized and commented upon. I think it’s because everyone knows The L Word because it meant something important to them – perfect or not.

When a gorgeous brunette (Anna Silk) throws a gorgeous blonde (Zoie Palmer) down on a bed, rips off her jeans, and then climbs on top of her in Lost Girl, L Word fans remember another brunette and another blonde – Jennifer Beals and Laurel Holloman – doing almost exactly the same moves.

While we’re on the topic of Lost Girl, the show takes a lot of moves from Buffy the Vampire Slayer too, but nobody is complaining about how Joss Whedon portrays lesbians. There are some who name the BtVS character Willow (Alyson Hannigan) as their favorite lesbian ever. Is that because Whedon gets some slack for being a man, but Ilene Chaiken who is both a woman and a lesbian has to be perfect?

For whatever reasons, Ilene Chaiken and The L Word complainers haven’t been ready to give even a tiny bit of slack to a show that brought them from almost no representation on TV to at least some representation on TV. Isn’t it time to ease up, forgive the imperfections, and recognize the importance and achievement of Ilene Chaiken to the lesbian community? If I had a valid vote to cast in that world, I would vote in her favor.

Read Full Post »

The Movies

I love the movies. Movies have been hallmarks in my life, built my cultural background, provided thrills and joy, provoked thought, ignited discussion, and given me many a reusable line of dialog to apply in life’s daily situations. Yet, when I listen to the list of movies nominated for best picture this year, I realize I’ve been slacking on making it out to the multiplex. If I see an Oscar nominated picture on Netflix months after it came out, that doesn’t bother me. I remember a time when I made a big effort to see them all before any awards were given.

Please leave a comment with your first 50 words on the topic “the movies.”

Read Full Post »

New Beginnings

Here’s to the beginning of a new year, to the health and happiness of everyone, and to the healing of us all. I hope the craziness of 2012 is not going to linger into the new year, but I’m afraid the U.S. Congress is going to remain the same morass of indecision. How about all the rest of us moving on and making it a great year? I’m for that. Happy New Year to you.

Please leave a comment with your first 50 words on the topic “new beginnings.”

Read Full Post »

Favorite Song

I was learning to play blues chords on my uke and started singing “Blues in the Night,” a favorite song from my distant youth. I remember singing it out in my back yard over and over again while I was hanging up laundry. Funny how songs are connected to events in your life. “The Girl from Ipanema” always reminds me of painting the house.

Please leave a comment with your first 50 words on the topic “favorite song.”

Read Full Post »

The screen

Remember when  you had a landline? (Those were the days.) You had a phone by the bed, right? But the pundits are saying that having a cell phone by the bed at night is a sign of the end of evolution. Remember how when you couldn’t sleep you’d get up for a glass of milk and check your email? But the pundits are saying that if you wake up at night and check your email on your cell phone, the world will end or something equally terrible. Remember watching TV before bed? But the pundits are saying watching a small screen before bed will fry your brain.

Please leave a comment with your first 50 words on “the screen.”

Read Full Post »

Wake Up

Honey, I’m wide awake as soon as my eyes open. I don’t get your problem – why don’t you like to wake up? What is so wonderful about being half awake and refusing to get out of bed? And why do you slog around like a zombie for the first hour or so you are up in the morning? If you plan to be my child for the next few years, and I think you do, then you need to wake up!

Please leave a comment with your first 50 words on the topic “wake up.”

Read Full Post »