Saturday, October 29, 2016

Your life as a poem!--oops, closed!

Yesterday a blog reader mused on how interesting it would be to know more about the "timelines of commentators' jobs, careers, and creative pursuits"

which of course gave me the idea to have a fun Saturday not-contest.

In the comment column of this blog post, in 25 or fewer words, give the timeline you want to share.

Of course there are prizes, but it won't be for "best life!" Maybe "most intersting (sic) spelling" ;)



Example:

reader
library skulker
student
paying job
unhappy job
BOOK PUBLICIST!
burn out
Agent!
Sharkly Agent!
Blogger!
Queen of the Known Universe
(in her own mind)


Contest will close later tonight IS NOW CLOSED so I can read the comments and post results tomorrow.

Questions?
Normally I'd say tweet to me, but I'm doing a workshop this morning and thus
out of touch. You're on your own for this, but follow the first rule of blog comments: take a risk.
The worst that can happen is a shark will show up at your door step and gnaw on you for elevenses.

74 comments:


  1. Born in Maine, autumn,
    Who’s afraid of V. Woolf…teens.
    College in Boston.

    Stagecoach west…Cali.
    Married, then daughter, true love.
    French Sojourn, then death.

    ReplyDelete
  2. CT-4
    FL-1
    CT-3
    NJ-3
    MO-5
    CT-1
    RSA-1
    CT-4 + Forever home.

    Kids asked, “…military?”
    “My dad’s a fugitive,” I said.
    We just moved a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  3. beamer unbalanced
    assist freckled librarian
    fiction writer?
    don’t muddy colors
    no interior design
    social worker
    What?!!
    pastor
    Abbey programme worker
    non-fiction author!
    pastor
    fiction writer

    ReplyDelete
  4. Telling stories (Ghostbusters episodes)
    Dog walker
    Cashier
    Beach Badge Checker
    Cat Fanciers Association clerk
    Museum Guard
    Respite
    Library
    +Writing Workshop
    Paid for a short story

    ReplyDelete
  5. Student athlete
    Student, asunder
    Master of counting
    Death & taxes (just taxes)
    Keeper of books
    Keeper of house
    Keeper @ school
    Axed
    Master of self, & books :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Firefighter.
    Injured and unemployed.
    College bound.
    Twice.
    New career.
    Job loss.
    Unemployed.
    Memoir writer.
    Still unemployed.
    Self-employed.
    Soon to be published author.
    Consultant, designer, author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Little girl reading alone: PEACE while immersed in others’ lives
    AWAY to college
    Social worker: impetigo or cigarette burns?
    Motherhood: THE BEST!
    Writer: Since childhood.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Stone Soup
    VC Andrews
    Backup degree
    History degree
    Hopping across country
    ...NY-MO-TX-NJ-CA-NC-MD-VA
    Along the way Kabul Baghdad
    Dream...Full-time writer
    Now...16 years to go

    ReplyDelete
  9. Born at home
    Student government
    College interrupted
    U.S. paratrooper
    Married
    Five Kids
    Restaurant owner
    College again
    Wife gone
    Oh well
    Fiction (maybe) writer
    Agent search

    ReplyDelete
  10. Happiest childhood,
    Scoliosis crushes,
    Married, lost too soon,
    Children: joy,
    Catherder extraordinaire
    Aka middle school principal
    Late life third child
    Writing the thread that
    Unites.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Scribbler (King wannabee)
    Poet (Eliot wannabee)
    Guitarist (Garcia wannabee)
    Brooding college student (Morrison wannabee)
    Teacher (Keating wannabee)
    Bandmate (Levine wannabee)
    Husband (me wannabee)
    Father (writer wannabee)
    Writer (no going back)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Key cutter
    Burger flipper
    Powder coated
    Diaper washer
    Gas pumper
    Photo teacher
    Background checker
    Furniture dealer
    Filmmaker
    Cancer patient
    Pawnbroker
    Print maker
    Resort owner
    Wannabe writer

    ReplyDelete
  13. Looking for Narnia

    Dungeon Master.

    Circus over Ivy League.

    Acting yields London.

    Enslaved in marriage. Trapped.

    A child is born.

    Escaped.

    Sick and abandoned

    Last Rites

    Surprised by Joy

    ReplyDelete
  14. Nancy Drew
    Mary Stewart
    Kurt Vonnegut
    PD James
    Julia Spencer-Fleming
    Martin Walker
    and finally,
    Curtains for the Corpse
    by Margaret S. Hamilton

    ReplyDelete
  15. Books for friends and the last name of a man I never saw.
    Bad teenage poetry.
    Crappy jobs.
    Law school. Kids. “Real” jobs.
    Writing, always.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Crayons
    Reading
    Stuffed animals
    Painting
    Art school
    Crappy jobs
    Move across the country
    Graduate school
    More crappy jobs
    Success of sorts
    Economy crash
    Pandas!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Scribbler, scrawler, stories to be
    Subs’tute, song spin’r, sorta I.T.
    Supervise, salary, ‘soff to work I go
    Steve Forti: Super Dad, Sharkly prompt maestro

    ReplyDelete

  18. Word admirer
    Book lover
    Awkward adolescent
    College student
    Teacher of awkward adolescents
    MRS.
    Now MOM! times 2
    Book lover
    Word admirer
    Writer (hopefully published someday)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Lost girl wishing for Neverland
    Found books.
    Flew through school
    Then college
    Then law school
    Took jobs along the way
    Joined the criminal justice league

    ReplyDelete
  20. AL,NY,ME,BC

    Sweet home, Alabama

    True love - Roll Tide!

    USAF - FL, VA, AK, TX, CO, Japan

    Two children - Actress and Marine

    Good times!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Florida grown
    Book worm
    Tried college

    Singer
    Book Addict
    Married cute guy

    Writing bug bit me
    Amateur photographer
    Office Manager, by day
    Writer, by night

    ReplyDelete
  22. Poor, smart bumpkin
    Works her way
    College, med school, residency
    Thanks to a country where every goombah can soar
    She's back to helping America's poor.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Stubborn child,
    avid reader,
    escaped "hands"
    “Can’t tell.”
    Early marriage,
    babies come,
    Bruises fade,
    "I fell."
    Cubicle life
    Soulmate saves
    Dreams abound
    Found.
    “All’s well.”






















    ReplyDelete
  24. When I was young
    I shot a blank arrow:
    up, away, and gone.

    Now I'm older,
    bold, brave, and stronger,
    chasing arrows into the sun.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Book lover
    Journal writer
    Newspaper editor
    Fraction teacher
    Comma corrector
    Fire survivor
    Nose wiper (x2)
    Blog starter
    Search analyzer
    College saver
    Fiction writer
    Lifelong learner

    ReplyDelete
  26. Animals!
    Books!

    Poop scooper
    Writer

    Biology major
    (English minor)

    Vet school
    (zzzzzzzzz)

    Army
    Veterinarian
    (writer)

    Veterinarian
    Writer

    IVF

    ...

    MOTHER!
    Veterinarian
    Writer

    ReplyDelete
  27. Bookworm
    Tinkerer,
    Doodler,

    Journalist, playwright,
    Web developer, information designer,

    ESL teacher: South Korea, Spain, Malaysia,
    Secondary school teacher: Namibia
    Fundraiser: South Africa

    Educator, Nomad, Writer

    ReplyDelete
  28. Wannabe clown, ballerina, singer
    Shy, but not on stage.
    Then writer, vet, doctor
    Crushed idealist dreams
    Teacher against all odds
    Writing and music stays.

    ReplyDelete
  29. sheep farm
    shipwreck
    Mayflower
    murder!
    glassworks
    Verdun
    printing press
    Mrs. Cobb
    Woods Hole
    suicides
    Horseshoe crabs
    moonlight
    wandering
    harbor night
    land!
    sister call
    rescue
    snowfall

    ReplyDelete
  30. Dreamer.
    Daughter.
    Overachiever.

    Dreamer.
    Debater.
    NCAA player.

    Dreamer.
    Worker.
    Doctor.

    Darker.
    Lesser.
    Failure.

    Spark kindness in the dark
    Small dreams revived
    Cold, not forgotten

    Writer?

    ReplyDelete
  31. Born. In a
    Tower block.

    Thinking the crap out of things.
    Thinking myself out of crap.

    Rescued by books.
    Uni.
    Union.
    Mum
    Teaching
    Rights.

    Write?

    ReplyDelete
  32. Youngest of four
    Only girl
    Tomboy
    READER
    Lover of cats
    And P.E.
    Zoo volunteer
    College
    Confusion
    Many jobs
    Master’s
    Marriage
    Motherhood
    Emptying nest
    Transition
    WRITER

    ReplyDelete
  33. corporate impostor -> no
    self-employed renegade -> no
    disenchanted educator -> no
    rogue writer -> know

    ReplyDelete
  34. Vermont
    Budding reader
    Flutist

    New York
    Music
    Literature

    Seattle
    Scholar
    Writer
    M.A.

    Indiana
    Rare book love affair

    North Carolina
    Marriage
    Librarian
    Writer

    Next chapter:
    Pennsylvania

    ReplyDelete
  35. Mom gave me Ramona, creation myths, Anansai.
    Dad The Babysitter’s Club,
    a librarian Star Trek novels.
    Then I read YA and stayed
    to write it.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Green Eggs and Ham
    Old Yeller
    Gone with the Wind
    Bride
    Parents
    Goosebumps
    Murder on the Orient Express
    Shell Seekers
    GMC
    Paddling Upstream (Sept 2017)

    ReplyDelete
  37. I have this Idea:
    Arrive in the fall, parents marry in the winter.

    I have this Idea:
    Climb a forbidden apple tree, try to fly – gravity won.
    "Runs with scissors...colors outside the lines"
    Reading A, writing A, 'rythmatic – not so much,

    I have this Idea:
    College dropout, Hippie, work, house, love, wrangle 10 beating hearts including
    assorted pets, husband, 2.5 kids.

    I have this Idea:
    Start business with husband (sometimes a not-so-great notion).
    Separate offices saves marriage.

    I have this Idea:
    Write a kid's book.
    Get an offer! Book gets orphaned.

    I have this Idea:
    Try again and again,
    and again.


    I have this idea I will have live to be 372 years old
    to finish all my ideas

    ReplyDelete
  38. Life's a circle
    Not a line
    Ever turning to catch the wonder
    With pigment
    With words
    With music
    Failing
    And trying again

    ReplyDelete
  39. Michigan dreamer
    Reader
    Swimmer of lakes
    School = struggles
    Heart breaks

    Florida horse rescuer
    First female firefighter!
    Sanctuary founder
    Inspired writer

    Published!

    Georgia
    Writing, rescuing still

    ReplyDelete
  40. Words in German
    Words in English
    Words in music
    Words in books
    Word made flesh
    Words of love
    Words in code
    Words yet published

    ReplyDelete


  41. Near-blind baby
    Swimmer teen
    Minimum wage hell
    Married!
    County bureaucrat
    Law school
    Baby lawyer
    Babies! x4
    Moderately-competent lawyer
    Writer
    Damn freaking heartless lawyer
    Author =)

    ReplyDelete
  42. Younger sister
    Older sister
    Five elementary schools in six years
    Dreamer

    Band geek
    Writer
    Drum major
    Student

    Broken
    Healing

    Librarian
    Reader
    Writer
    Dreamer

    ReplyDelete
  43. "Play it my way."

    The score would have it otherwise.
    As would my soul.

    I Music’s power obey.

    Work.
    Pain.
    Writing.
    Pain.
    Photography.

    Pain.

    Light…!

    ReplyDelete
  44. Teenage bipolar,
    Crazy feats, deep despair,
    Therapy, drugs, life, wife, daughter,
    Terrible genes, cold day, runs away,
    Chasing, finding, holding, crying,
    It will be okay.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Community theatre childhood.
    College.
    Decade passed.
    Return to theatre.
    Acting classes.
    Improv troupe.
    Movie extra.
    Procured talent agent.
    Never too late to follow your passion.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Fonthill
    Waterloo
    Fonthill
    Waterloo
    Toronto
    Waterloo
    Waterloo
    Waterloo
    Conestogo
    Windsor
    Welland
    Vancouver
    Fonthill
    Pasadena
    Princeton
    Toronto (Etobicoke)
    Riverside
    Melbourne (Carlton, Brunswick West, Clifton Hill)
    Hamilton
    Kitchener

    ReplyDelete
  47. Bookworm childhood
    Student doc
    Intern working
    Round the clock
    Marriage, baby
    Dreams ongoing
    Slowly, slowly
    Word count growing
    Almost there now
    Trenches wait
    ‘Tis fate?

    ReplyDelete
  48. Daughter
    Blood
    Woman
    Teacher
    Educating young minds belonging to others
    Wife, mother
    Teaching young minds belonging to me
    Sweat
    Grandmother
    Writer
    Tears
    Published author?
    Grateful

    ReplyDelete
  49. Child, dreams of world travel
    Musician/Hippie Sunset Blvd
    Scared, dreams push me on.
    Love-Paris-Artist
    60+ countries
    2016, Machu Picchu
    Writer - dreams
    ...published author?

    ReplyDelete
  50. Youngest of 5
    Avid reader
    English, German, French, Russian

    Scholarship kid
    Jobs galore
    Spanish

    Medievalist
    Teacher
    Old English, Middle High German

    Wife
    Mom
    Love

    Writer

    ReplyDelete
  51. third-world origins
    first-world (second-class?) citizenship
    thousandth cycle: failure/success

    forty-sixth birthday &#@%#
    last hurrah?
    second wind!

    third,seventh,fourteenth drafts,
    eighteenth>
    first novel?
    ...

    ReplyDelete
  52. Girl Scout
    HS: English
    College: Art
    Boston
    Met the Love of My Life
    Paint & Parties
    California
    Civil Servant
    Ceramist
    Married the LoML (12 years later)
    Garden Nut
    Author

    ReplyDelete
  53. Desert born
    Of Snowbird stock
    Swampland reared

    Around the block
    Too many times
    Some up, some down

    Stories grew
    From day one
    Now they’re ready

    ReplyDelete

  54. A man of few words.
    Except in November. Then,
    Fifty-thousand words.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Fairytales, romance, science fiction
    Mysteries, thrillers, dark crime fiction

    No matter what I do, stories are there
    It's why I have my own to share

    ReplyDelete
  56. word lover
    math hater
    (perpetually haunted
    by inventory)

    playwright, director, actress (5)
    improvised puppet play (7)

    English major
    drama critic

    copy editor
    copywriter
    freelance writer

    postgraduate detours #1 and 2
    (discovered math ability)

    journalist
    poet
    Owl Princess
    tulip greeter
    skunk sommelier
    novelist

    author!

    still playing
    with words







    ReplyDelete
  57. All-time reader
    Full time Mom
    Double time NICU nurse
    Part time Radiation Oncology nurse

    Quitting time, so

    Back burner writer pushed to
    Front burner.


    ReplyDelete
  58. Happy Midwesterner, DC Consultant
    Publications!
    Writer?
    Husband! Russian adoptions!
    Sandwich generation caregiver
    Seventeen years!!??
    Manuscripts:
    -queried, discouraged
    -close, stuck
    -speaks to me
    The one? Finally?

    ReplyDelete
  59. Farm house, cats

    Outhouse, rats

    Sleeping porch, me

    Rooming house, me, TV

    Split level, husband

    Tudor, husband, cats

    Bungalow, cat, TV

    Mansion in the sky?

    ReplyDelete
  60. Invisible
    Reader
    Writer?

    Student Teacher
    Failed
    Twice.

    Librarian
    No books
    All bureaucracy

    First novel...

    ...Fifth novel

    Major burn out
    New library job
    Selector
    Not a good fit
    Youth Services Librarian
    Fired

    Unemployed
    "Fun"employed
    Self-employed

    Freelance work
    Eighth novel

    Next year...
    Query trenches

    Writing for
    The invisible

    ReplyDelete
  61. reader
    writing
    student librarian
    University - anthropology
    library technician
    computer science student
    drop-out
    healing
    revelation
    technical writer
    non-profit communications
    healing again
    still writing

    ReplyDelete
  62. Itzhak Perlman (on Sesame Street)
    M.C. Escher, Rene Magritte
    Christopher Moore and Bill Bryson
    But now, no one more than my son

    ReplyDelete
  63. The Motherland (Michigan)
    Go Gators!
    E.R.(Vet)
    Boston Terriers!
    Green Acres (New Hampshire)
    Stroopwafels!
    Dr. Spock…
    Lifestyle shock!
    Janet Reid(er)
    Writer!

    ReplyDelete
  64. Love: Mary Shelly and her creation
    Weird kid
    School years: Writing=popularity
    Side income:
    Community journalist
    Advertorials
    Glossy magazine
    Columnist;
    Painting Company=roof overhead
    Aspiring: lit fiction

    ReplyDelete
  65. Odors

    Hated –bus tires, mean teacher’s perfume
    Loved –grandma’s coffee, post-rain

    Hated –beer, formalin
    Loved –new textbooks

    Hate –stagnant air
    Love –kiddos, aftershave, coffee, post-rain

    ReplyDelete
  66. "You're early, kid." (t = 0)
    "You're a Christian now, kid." (7)
    "You got a deathwish, kid?" (15)
    "You're a physicist now, kid." (21)
    "Ball-and-chain, kid." (22)
    "You almost done school yet, kid?" (25)

    ReplyDelete
  67. Nancy Drew
    Valley of the Dolls
    Diary of a Young Girl
    story-filled spiral notebooks
    graduate school, Ph.D., tenure
    first book, second book, agent, third book

    ReplyDelete
  68. frequent mover
    reader
    woods-wanderer
    theater
    Shakespeare
    truth-seeker
    improvisor (on stage and off)
    chemist
    young wife
    Catholic
    wine seller
    teacher (DD1)
    knitwear designer (DD2)
    university admin
    Italy (DD3)
    fiction (DD4)
    science writer
    novel editor
    soon-to-be querier

    ReplyDelete
  69. Jersey girl
    Boomer
    Walter Farley’s Black Stallion
    Wannabe jockey – tall
    Moonshot observer
    Wannabe astronaut—acrophobic
    California girl
    Wannabe mom & wife – barren & divorced
    Amarna obsessed
    Wannabe author—achievemephobic






    ReplyDelete
  70. Dóttir
    Sœur
    Madre
    Reader
    Learner
    Number Wrangler
    Chauffeur
    F1 Driver
    Personal Chef
    Pediatrician
    Psychologist
    Cat Herder
    Dragon
    Hermit
    She Who Must Be Obeyed
    Professional Liar


    ReplyDelete
  71. Struggling to find
    My rhythm
    When the rest
    Of the world
    Sings
    A slightly
    Different song.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Diplobrat - 7 countries before age 12,
    Reading - more worlds to explore,
    Writing - better worlds to build,
    High school misery - London adventure,
    Musical discoveries - dangerous lifestyles,
    University - safe haven - home,
    Kitchen camaraderie - cinema leadership,
    Australian escape - Berlin awakening,
    Boyfriend - babies - home again,
    House - job - family - security,
    Redundancy - despair,
    New workplaces - new bugbears,
    But always, always, always writing,
    Rewriting - changing history,
    Making sense of past and future.

    ReplyDelete
  73. Timeline?
    More like zigzag.
    Hopped more jobs than hopscotch.
    Writer, always storyteller, but what else?
    IT?
    Baker?
    Waitress?
    Teacher?
    Translator?

    Writer. But what else?

    ReplyDelete