Keeping My Words

That's what I went with for my OneWord blog :)

The blogspot url for keepingmywords was taken, but the hyphenated version for it was not! So  http://keeping-my-words.blogspot.com is mine! I'll be removing the OneWord tab (in my menubar here) shortly and putting a link in my sidebar instead.

I think I got most of the kinks out of the template (which is a WordPress theme that's never been fully functional in Blogger) but if anything doesn't look right let me know. - Consider yourselves honorary beta testers. You're welcome ;)

As I've said before, even when I don't have time for a full post here, I might still have sixty seconds to write something over there. The difference is that I consider those to be writing exercises that I'm ok sharing, and not necessarily topics I would have otherwise chosen to write about. For example, today, I did not wake up and think "Oooh! I think writing about that chalk thingamajiggy would be a GREAT POST!!!!" ;) This is more like a word association game - except my associated "word" is a 60 second thought! I write for 60 seconds, finish my thought, and then do a very quick proofread. (So all in all it's more like a 2 to 5 minute post total.)

There are sites that won't let you finish writing your sentence once the time has stopped (and certainly wouldn't let you go back and fix a typo!) There's even a site that will start DELETING your text if you pause during the exercise! Can you imagine? Lol! Luckily, this ain't that! OneWord.com has a 60 second timer that gently lets you know when your time is up. It's a low pressure mental break for me that I find oddly relaxing, and I actually look forward to it every day.

So if you'd like more to read, check out my OneWord blog too. I'm finding it kind of interesting to see where my brain can go in 60 seconds :)

See you there!

I need a name

I made a separate blog for my oneword entries, but I can't "un hide" it or finish it up until it has a name. (Ok, I could, but I don't wanna!)

I've spent 3 days obsessing about it and now I have a headache.

Your turn. - Don't all jump at once.

- FYI, to help: I'd like a shortish name (1-3 words) It's a blog of entries that are inspired by a word of the day ( * See the "One Word" tab above). I write the entries in about 60 seconds. I may someday include other writing exercises there - Short daily type ones. The template style/look is "parchment"-y.

Go! ;)

(Oh and there's no prize. I get the prize which may be my headache going away.
-And you probably get another notch on your Karma belt which could make the difference between whether or not you come back as an amoeba.)

One Word Page

I've just added a new page! Look up there in my menu bar. See it?

I've been wanting to incorporate my OneWord.com entries into this blog somehow but I also wanted an easy way to do it - a way that wouldn't require my copying and pasting every time.

<entering geek mode>

An RSS feed seemed like a possible solution but OneWord.com doesn't have RSS feeds for individuals' pages. I requested the feature and was told it's on a list. In the meantime I created my own feed using Feed43's services, then used Feed2JS to get an embed code to put it into a page and voila - I now have a page here on the blog with my most recent OneWord.com entries. I still need to play with the formatting a little bit, but for now it works well enough for... well... well enough for me to go "voila!" :)

</geek mode>

Even on days when I don't write a full blog post I often write a OneWord entry. So if you want more to read, check out my One Word page in my menubar. It will automatically update every time I post something new at OneWord.com.

Edit: The feed worked fine, but I've now moved my OneWord entries to a separate blog. See the widget in my sidebar for "Keeping My Words."

One Word: Wander

A one minute writing exercise from One Word

"Wander"

I wondered as I wandered... that’s a song isn’t it?

I just realized yesterday’s word was “Wand.” Maybe a “Wander” could be someone who wields a wand. It could be a derogatory term for someone who waves one around a lot, used by those who can turn you to dust with just a point of their finger.

One Word: Wand

A one minute writing exercise from One Word

"Wand"

I used to have a magic wand. Actually I had several. I have one at the moment too. It lights up. I justified the purchase by telling myself it was a practical item. -Just cooler.

When I was younger the wands I had were magician’s wands. I had several. I had breaking wands, collapsing wands, linking wands, weighted wands… My first wand was made of wood. I loved it. I may even still have it. It’s been a while since I opened that trunk… Actually, I’m pretty sure I do still have it. I sewed a red fabric case for it, with a gold button. I’ve had that wand since I was five.

(The "case" was made when I was ten)

One Word: Wondered

A one minute writing exercise from One Word

"Wondered"

I've often wondered what would happen if I completely disappeared.

Actually I haven't. That's just the first thing that came to mind to write. It sounds pretty typical doesn't it?

I actually know what would happen if I disappeared so I don't wonder about it. Well... if I just up and disappeared right in front of someone and vanished into thin air that might be different. And interesting. I suppose they'd deny it - If they were smart!

* This is actually a very cool word and I wish I'd done better with it. I may revisit it at some point!

One Word: Swept

A one minute writing exercise from One Word

"Swept"

Swept away...

Really that's all that comes to mind. That and sweeping. 

I swept for years before I got a vacuum. I don't have carpeting, and brooms were just easier to store. To this day I still have a small broom and dustpan hanging from the side of my toilet, from when I used to flush kitty litter and would inevitably spill some on the floor. 


That was 60 seconds.

A few side notes:

The litter was flushable. It was recycled newspaper bits and so long as I flushed no more than a scoop or two at a time, flushing it worked fine.  -And flushing was so much easier than having to run it outside to the garbage! But again... spillage ;) So I kept a small broom and dustpan hanging off the side of the tank.

I thought about moving the broom and dustpan set about a week ago, since I no longer have pets, but then I left it. It may not be a logical place to keep it anymore, but it's not in the way and I always know where it is. I doubt most people even notice it.

One Word: Example

A one minute writing exercise from One Word.


"Example"

Example.

"She tried to lead by example. Unfortunately, her example wasn't a very good one."

"Example on a math test."

"Give me an example."

Ok, now the word is beginning to look funny to me. You know, from staring at it too long? I hate it when that happens.

One Word: Final

I didn't do today's One Word exercise. Well, I did, but then I erased it. Then I tried to think of several others themes I could write on using that same word, and I didn't like any of those either. I realized that I couldn't think of one "non-dark" 60 second write up for the word "final." I thought of lighter subjects like final paper, final answer, and final frontier, but once I used the word in a sentence I didn't like what I wrote, or I didn't think it was suitable for public consumption ;)

It's odd that I can't write something with a positive or neutral spin using the word "final." It seems I have a problem with that word. The problem, I think, is that I think it's a very short sighted word. I don't know that anything really is final. Is death final? Probably. But I don't know. Are breakups final? Sure, because people tend to not change. But what if something did change. Really changed. Would it still be final? Maybe not.

I don't think I ever have enough information about anything to deem it absolutely final. There's too much change in the Universe and too much I simply don't know to be comfortable making a statement like that. I don't think I could ever use the word "final" with any certainty, unless I was under duress. Even then, it would still be conditional to me, which makes it not final.

One Word: Specific

A one minute writing exercise from One Word.

"Specific"

Specific. Specifically what? Ugh. My mind is drawing a complete blank. I think this word is too specific. How about specimen? Can I write on that? It looks a little like that. No?

Could you be more specific about what you’d like me to write about?

"Specific"

(The sequel)

Specific.

I would specifically like to know when the new word changes over on this site. Since I had this specific word yesterday and, though I can’t be too specific at the moment, what I wrote then wasn’t all that interesting. So I would like another word now please. Or I’d like to know at what specific time this site switches to new words so I can return then and write something a little less specific than this specific prose on this specific word. Specifically.

One Word: Basic

One of the sites that Eden suggested to help bloggers with this month's NaBloPoMo theme is One Word, which shows you a word and gives you sixty seconds to write about it. - Anything at all in 60 seconds. "don't think. just write."

Since it usually takes me an average of 60 minutes to write a blog post (I've timed it!) I welcome this exercise!

"Basic"

Basic. Basic instincts. Basic…. isn’t there a line of basic toiletry products? Like skin products and shampoo and stuff? For some reason, the colors white, green and orange come to mind. Maybe that’s their logo.

There’s also Basic the computer language. If anyone remembers that. -Did I just age myself?