Writing prompts are fun! :)

So I made my own random list for writing prompts for my weekly short story challenge.

Three seperate lists Genre, A Random Object that must be included, and Occupation of my main character. There are fifteen items (currently) on each list. So today I asked my cute seven year old cousin for 3 random numbers from 1 to 15. She gave me 10, 5, and 15.

So my short story that i get to post next Friday shall be an Urban Fantasy, must include a ball of string, and my main character is fisherman.

I've got some cool ideas already bubbling in my head and I'm excited to get to work. 1500 words, here I come. :)

My challenge for the year

We've all been there. That day when we realize we aren't challenging ourselves enough. For me, I love to write... though of course you wouldn't know that. I don't like to share everything that pops in my head on the internet. That would just be silly. 

Last November I participated in NaNoWriMo and won. Yes I wrote 50,000 words. Thank you for all the applause. I do my humble Princess Diaries wave to you all. Next month, I am participating in Camp NaNoWriMo, where I again set my sights on writing a new 50000 word novel. Wish me luck.

But wait! I'm going to be even more crazy and give myself even more to chew. 

Starting next week, I am going to write a 1500 word short story once a week. I will post it here, every Friday for all the world to see. So now that I've posted it on the internet, I gotta stick to it. :0) How's that for motivation? 

Of course, I'll keep doing book reviews and sharing whatever is on my mind because that's what blogs are for! :0) 

Yep. I'm just cool like that. 

Thoughts on Tough Stuff

I wanted to write my thoughts about bullying for a while now. Not too long ago I was having a conversation with a woman I babysit for. She confessed that if her children were ever bullied, she'd probably home school them.

I in turn confessed to her that when I was growing up I hated school, mostly because I was bullied there. It made me think about what I went through as a kid. 

I have a unique name that I was taught to be proud of. I wasn't a Sarah or a Katherine. I was the one and only Daria. But no matter how awesome you think your name is, kids are crafty and mean and will eventually turn something beautiful into something ugly. So I was teased. I was called horrible things. And I cried and I hated my name for a while. 

But I was bullied for years, no matter where I moved there was always a boy or two who would find a  way to make me cry. It didn't stop after elementary school. When I went to a Jr. high where I didn't know anyone, I was always the victim of one joke or another. 

The only way I broke free from the bullying atmosphere that had followed me everywhere I went, was that I learned to stick up for myself. When I got hate letters, I simply threw them away. When boys called me names or told me I was stupid, I laughed. I learned to simply stop caring about what they thought. What do two random guys I only see for maybe an hour a day, know about me? That's right, absolutely nothing! 

What I learned from my experience of being a victim of bullying, was that the only person who really was going to stop it was myself. Because kids are going to be kids when there isn't adult supervision close by. Parents, Teachers, and Counselors can only do so much, but in the end it really is going to be between the victim and the bully. I as a victim had to learn that the bully only had power, if I gave it to them. 

I think what's wrong with our society today, is that we take everything at face value. Doesn't matter where, when a victim begins to believe the words they hear, that is when they are letting the bullies win. We see it everywhere, on facebook, twitter, forums, chatrooms, playgrounds and neighborhood parks. When another person tells us something negative, we are inclined to believe that they are right. We give way too much power to other peoples opinions. Today, I see so many people who are basing their worth on the random comment a complete stranger said years ago. 

I suggest to all, that you need to learn to fight for YOU. I'm not saying that if you're being bullied you need to learn how to throw a punch or take revenge. That just makes you a bully too. But learn to have your opinion of yourself. Not what the world expects you to think. 

As a wise person once said "What Sue says about Sally, describes more about who Sue is, than Sally."

So there you have it, some food for thought. I'm interested on what you think.