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Tuesday, February 27, 2007

The Moral of the Story

A week ago, my three-year-old daughter and I snuck under the covers for her afternoon nap. The phone rang within seconds of our settling in and thanks to caller ID I saw my husband's office number on the display.

We chatted a bit too long according to the little one laying next to me who started singing, "Shit, shit, shit."

Stifling laughter, I whispered into the phone, "Can you hear her?"

"No, what is she saying?" asked the hubby.

"S-h-i-t over and over again."

"What are you going to do?"

"Ignore her."

But the child would not be ignored so we decided to end our conversation until I got her to sleep. I explained to my tiny, curly headed daughter that the particular word she sang was not polite.

"But you use it," she said.

Well, she had me there, so we agreed to try and not use it anymore.

Here is where the writer in me steps in to explain why I shared this story. The words penned above speak of just one of the many comical incidents I experience as a mother. But the writer in me sees more than a mother trying to keep her child from saying a naughty word.

My creative side sees:

- An article about the importance of leading by example
- A humorous out of the mouths of babes story for a parenting magazine
- An article offering tips to parents on how to deal with a child who uses naughty words
- A funny story to share with the readers of my blog
- A fictional account where a child is verbally and physically abused by his father but overcomes it to give a better life to his own children
- The story of a person who tries to win every situation by striking a deal, until it leads him to a deal with the devil and he loses his soul

These were only a few of the ideas which popped into my head when I composed this entry. Perhaps you saw other ways in which to use it.

The moral of the story is: take what you know and turn it into an article or story that can inform and/or entertain your readers. When we write things that ring true for us it is likely they ring true for others. And isn't relating to our readers what this business is all about?

Cheryl

9 comments:

Jean said...

Don't you just love it when they use your words on you:-)

I love the message of this post though. Ideas are all around us, we just have to actually see them.

There is a huge oak tree in my front yard. It was the inspiration for a mystery featuring a ghost who had been hung for a crime he didn't commit and wanted his name cleared. One of these days I'm going to finish it.

My brother inspired another story that is out right now, hopefully it will sell soon.

And now that you mention it...my plumbing fix of bike tire tube, duct tape and clamp fix might just make a good starting ancedote for a plumbing article for housewives.

Thanks for the reminder:-)


Speck

Anonymous said...

I have to say you bloggers never stop making it easier for new writers like myself to find ideas for new stories. When I was a teen I use to keep a dream journal. I have a total of 25 journals filled with story ideas. "Ghost of my past" is one of them and "My story" was inspired by a past relationship. I just wanted to Thank you for reminding me that there are other things to look out for in my life that could be a possible story.

Great work.

snow

Cheryl said...

I'm glad you can relate to my ramblings. I've used some of my past for personal essays, but I prefer to turn them into fiction.

The two assignments I did for those Long Short Story samplers were both based upon real life events.

Twenty-five journals, snow? Wow, that's a lot of writing. I bet you'll find more stories just waiting to be told.

Good luck!

Cheryl

Anonymous said...

Cheryl, Loved the post and needed the anecdote. : ) Sassilicious (yep, another name to add to your long long list).

Cheryl said...

How am I going to to keep track of you with all those names? Glad you liked the post.

Cheryl

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Balli said...

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