Just Kidding

"Do you understand now?" The teacher asked me. I nodded and didn't say anything. "Good. Now I expect you won't do that again?" I nodded again. "You may leave now." I hopped off the tall stool Mr. Jones kept in his incredibly dull office. I did a little curtsy. Not to be polite, more for my own amusement. That's why I do a lot of things, most of them aren't significant things, but this time maybe it was.

I went back into the classroom and sank into my desk chair. My cheeks were red with embarrassment. Jacob Simpson leaned over. "Why'd the principal call you?" He asked. He knew the principal very well. Jacob went to the office at least once a week. "It is none of your business Jacob! Just because I went to the Principal's office does not necessarily mean I did something wrong!" He smiled. Apparently he thought it was funny when other people get punished.

The teacher came back in. "Okay, class. We have five minutes left. No homework... except for you Doug... you have four chapters to read in science." I heard a groan from the back of the room. The bell finally rang. "Free at last" I thought.

I changed from black slacks and a plain blue polo shirt to a tye-dye T-shirt and jeans. I put my hair in a pony tail. I suddenly transformed from a quiet type to my true self: a laid back sarcastic teen who missed her old life. When there was more school to do, but she could get it done by 11:30am. Those were the days... the days before I started high-school.

You may be asking yourself why I dressed --and acted-- differently in school. Remember how I said I do things for my own amusement. Well that's why I did this. I could not only practice my acting, but see if anyone caught on. I never said anything dishonest about what I was doing. I wouldn't do anything like that. The results to my experiment were often times hilarious. And that was exactly what I was going for......


(A Purely Fictional Story by Vladimir Malcolm)

Inspiration

One of the hardest parts of any art is when you lack inspiration. For writers it is most commonly referred to as writer's block. First thing to do is stop thinking of it as writer's block. That name sounds rather depressing, as if there is a wall blocking you from the words that so desperately want to enter your mind. Think of it as a "temporary lack in inspiration". Ah, yes, that sounds good. There are many ways to get rid of this temporary lack in inspiration. You may already have something you do that helps. Some People take long walks on a peaceful night, some go out and jog, others write 50 random words, some doodle. Whatever works for you! Here are some other ideas to help:

1. Start talking to yourself! Talk out what just happened in your story. You can even act it out! This also helps me with figuring out the character's speech habits.
2. Scrap it. Save the document or piece of paper you have, you do not want to loose anything you write! Now, try starting over from the part where you started having trouble.
3. Exercise can help too. Get your blood flowing! If you've been sitting in a chair for two hours writing, you're just begging for exercise. Believe me, it works.
4. Write something else. If you're like Freya and I, we like variety, we're never trapped with just one project (which sometimes means we don't get them done when we need to). Start, or work on, another project.

If those things don't work. Make the troublesome part what you think about all the time. You're bound to come up with something sooner or later!

The villain

the unnamed villain

I have drawn  for you the villain from distorted notions. Freya and I don't just write, we love to draw too. The grey stuff around her is kind of symbolic to show her evil-ness. Pictures of Jesus and of Saints sometimes have a white or yellow radiance around them. They are holy, and this lady is pure evil... more about that in the book. Anyways, it was fun drawing her and I hope you like the picture!

Slowly but surely...

I am still working on the first chapter of Distorted Notions. I can't decide whether  to make it a fantasy or mystery. I am so glad that people are following Words on a Page! Please comment, we love to hear what you think! Anyways, back to Distorted Notions. I have most of my characters (including a villain) and I hope to finish this chapter soon. I am reading a sci-fi/fantasy book in hopes to find inspiration for my plot. I am so blessed to be able to spend so much time in the country, something about it really brings about the words I need to find. My main character is so contradictory to myself that it is hard to write for her. I have to cut this short. I'll post again soon!

A writer's responsibility

Writers make mistakes, we're humans, it's what we do. When you write, the first thing you should think about is, "Why am I writing this? What message do I want to send to people?" This will help you avoid problems. There are some cases where what your writing is really good, holy even structurally sound. Unfortunately, we humans go misunderstand. If you're confused think about this: You're IMing your best friend. Like most best friends you joke around and Probably have some inside jokes. Freya and I have so many it's like we speak another language. Then you join a chat group or get on and chat with someone else. You accidentally used an inside joke that she doesn't get and is seriously offended. You didn't make a mistake, but in writing you can't use a joking tone of voice. Thus, leading to misunderstandings. It's our jobs, both as writers and as Christians to prevent and fix misunderstandings. They have potential to be destructive.

Now for the assignment. Pretend you wrote a news paper article, not saying the nicest things about the mayor. You have to write another article to make what you did right. I encourage you to use a Bible verse this week. And, as always, you may send us your story in the comments, we'll read it and you might end up praised for your awsomeness! Remember, only comments on the post or relating to the subject matter will make it onto the blog, the writing entries are looked at by us and posted by us. If you would not like your story published on the blog, tell us so in your comment.

Next Week: Inspiration

-Vladimir

Short story #2:

This story seems like it was chopped down, like there was more to it. If I was writing this for something other than a blog post, it would be more professional. I didn't want to make it so long that people would just skim through. I hope you will enjoy the story anyways!

Sheriff Austin Grimm stood next to his deputy, Harry Becker. The Sheriff was a tall man who didn't talk much. He was strong, swift and cunning. Harry, on the other hand, was quite the opposite. A little man who talked whenever there was something to say. He was strong like the Sheriff, but his experience as deputy was lacking. The Sheriff was bent over a piece of paper and Deputy Becker was standing next to him. "Well what do you think Harry?" The Sheriff asked. He stood to his full height of six feet six inches. Harry shrugged. "Well don't know sir. It seems kinda mean to let a kid have yer job, but I ain't the mayor, I don't call the shots." He sighed. He couldn't stand the thought of having his boss leave.
Sure Mr. Grimm wasn't the youngest guy around, but he sure knew his job. "What do you think,as a man, not a deputy?" Harry chuckled. "Well sir, I think you know the job better than anyone! I think the mayor's outta his mind to get rid of the best Sheriff this town's ever had! Plus, you and me have become pretty good friends over the years. If you was to retire, well I wouldn't just loose my boss, I'd loose my pal." The Sheriff smiled. Harry was the only person who could make him do so. "What are you gonna do sir?" Harry asked, taking his cowboy hat off. There was a long pause before the Sheriff spoke again. He started to pace.
"Harry, I've had this job for twenty years now. I am fifty years old. I think the mayor might be right about me bein' to old to have this job. I can't do things like I used to. My back's gettin' stiff and I want to see my daughter more. She's just about to get married ya know. I think I'm goin' to move away. I ain't movin' to far away, just to Oakridge, only fifteen miles from here. And I'll write too. I think it's time for me to move away. Harry, I haven't told you, but I've been prayin' about this for a while now, I believe that the Good Lord is tellin' me to go."
Harry didn't say anything right away. It took him a few seconds but he smiled and nodded. "Go Austin, don't let me keep you neither." And so Austin Grimm left to tell the mayor that he would indeed retire, and he lived a happy rest of his life.

The End

-Vladimir

Distorted Notions

I have a title for my new book! I'm very excited! I have three written pages so far! I need to talk to Freya about a project I want to do on here. We have a running joke and it would be great to turn it into a story! There's another project I'm thinking about... I don't know quite yet... I hope everyone likes our weekly writing assignments. They are fun to think up! Look out for more pages and new stories to come! I hope you will enjoy what is to come, what has come, and what won't come but is there.

Don't forget: if, by the way of commenting, you submit a story, we'll see your comment before it's published and put your story on here! Sign it with a clever screen name and make sure you never want your story professionally published. Go ahead! We love to see other people's creativity!

-Vladimir Malcolm

Haiku

The haiku is quite popular. The traditional Japanese style, also the most
common, consists of 5 not rhyming syllables 7 syllables and 5 again. These poems
are usually profound and beautiful. The haiku is hard to do do on cue. But with
a little practice you'll be haiku-ing up a storm. Here is an example of a haiku
(yes, I made it up

Beautiful cherries

A light breeze in the springtime

Light has come again

That would be the Japanese style. There is also a more modern American style of haiku which is a short line, long line, short line about a profound subject. Here's another original example:

Day will break

Sun will shine on still water

I will smile

Choose a style (or do both) and submit your haiku in a comment. We might just celebrate it in a post! Remember that poetry is a writing style that probably has more profound creativeness than other writing styles. So experiment! Maybe get a book or do some research on poetry.

Next Week: A writer's responsibility

-Vladimir

P.S. small problem with publishing! The writing assignment of the week is still about writing a paragraph. This was supposed to be published June, 11.

New book

It seems we always have a project! Freya is currently finishing her book and working on chapter 2 of BtLoN. I was beyond bored and used my 8 hours of free time to think of a project of my own (other than the blog). I came up with a book. I won't tell you much about it yet. It's going to be epic, I can't wait to dig into it. I have another 8 hour day of doing nothing, so chapter one will be done in no time... if the ink in my pen doesn't run out. Now I must go do something that is not this so: Au revoir!

Writing a paragraph

Today I encourage you to something that you may find difficult: write a paragraph. Not any old paragraph. I want you to to find a small object, a bland object. Take it and examine it. Think about the texture, the colour, the shape, even the smell! Now put it away and DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES LOOK AT IT UNTIL YOU FINISH THIS ASSIGNMENT!!! Now get out your notebook and a pencil (never a pen). You are now going to write a seven sentence paragraph on this object. Make sure it is exciting and it praises your little object.

Start with a good outline:

I. pen cap
a. What a pen cap is used for
b. why a pen cap is important
c. what does the pen can look like
d. how has a pen cap helped me
e. how has it hurt me
f. why I shouldn't lose my pen cap
g. Closing sentence: restate something

Of course you don't have to do it just like I did. Even if you chose to write about a pen cap!

Now write your paragraph:

The pen cap is rather self-explanatory, it is used to can pens. Pen caps are important because they keep your pens from drying out. These helpful little things are usually a matching colour to your pen and are made of a rough plastic. When I need to write something important, such as a check, the pen cap keeps my pen from drying out. I have hurt my self on a pen cap by stepping on it. I shouldn't lose my pen cap because my pens will dry out and I won't be able to sign checks or legal documents. The pen cap is often taken for granted, I will no longer forget about the importance of the pen cap.

Now that was pretty rough, but it was just to give you an idea. So try it out and see what you come up with!

Next week: the haiku