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
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:
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.
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.
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
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
Student athlete
Student, asunder
Master of counting
Death & taxes (just taxes)
Keeper of books
Keeper of house
Keeper @ school
Axed
Master of self, & books :)
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.
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.
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
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
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.
Book worm
Green trumpeter
Noisy miner
Dung beetle
African meerkat
Satin bowerbird
Lyre bird
Mother hen
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)
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
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
Nancy Drew
Mary Stewart
Kurt Vonnegut
PD James
Julia Spencer-Fleming
Martin Walker
and finally,
Curtains for the Corpse
by Margaret S. Hamilton
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.
Crayons
Reading
Stuffed animals
Painting
Art school
Crappy jobs
Move across the country
Graduate school
More crappy jobs
Success of sorts
Economy crash
Pandas!
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
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)
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
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!
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
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.
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.”
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.
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
Animals!
Books!
Poop scooper
Writer
Biology major
(English minor)
Vet school
(zzzzzzzzz)
Army
Veterinarian
(writer)
Veterinarian
Writer
IVF
...
MOTHER!
Veterinarian
Writer
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
Wannabe clown, ballerina, singer
Shy, but not on stage.
Then writer, vet, doctor
Crushed idealist dreams
Teacher against all odds
Writing and music stays.
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
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?
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?
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
corporate impostor -> no
self-employed renegade -> no
disenchanted educator -> no
rogue writer -> know
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
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.
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)
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
Life's a circle
Not a line
Ever turning to catch the wonder
With pigment
With words
With music
Failing
And trying again
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
Words in German
Words in English
Words in music
Words in books
Word made flesh
Words of love
Words in code
Words yet published
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 =)
Younger sister
Older sister
Five elementary schools in six years
Dreamer
Band geek
Writer
Drum major
Student
Broken
Healing
Librarian
Reader
Writer
Dreamer
"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…!
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.
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.
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
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?
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
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?
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
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?
...
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
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
A man of few words.
Except in November. Then,
Fifty-thousand words.
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
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
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.
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?
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?
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
reader
writing
student librarian
University - anthropology
library technician
computer science student
drop-out
healing
revelation
technical writer
non-profit communications
healing again
still writing
Itzhak Perlman (on Sesame Street)
M.C. Escher, Rene Magritte
Christopher Moore and Bill Bryson
But now, no one more than my son
The Motherland (Michigan)
Go Gators!
E.R.(Vet)
Boston Terriers!
Green Acres (New Hampshire)
Stroopwafels!
Dr. Spock…
Lifestyle shock!
Janet Reid(er)
Writer!
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
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
"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)
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
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
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
Dóttir
SÅ“ur
Madre
Reader
Learner
Number Wrangler
Chauffeur
F1 Driver
Personal Chef
Pediatrician
Psychologist
Cat Herder
Dragon
Hermit
She Who Must Be Obeyed
Professional Liar
Struggling to find
My rhythm
When the rest
Of the world
Sings
A slightly
Different song.
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.
Timeline?
More like zigzag.
Hopped more jobs than hopscotch.
Writer, always storyteller, but what else?
IT?
Baker?
Waitress?
Teacher?
Translator?
Writer. But what else?
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