entertaining infinity

the writing thing (wordle/no sense needed)

Sorry loyal ones, I've been MIA again ... got back from my holiday and went smack into full-throttle life and couldn't seem to catch my breath or sit still long enough to post.  But the call of the blog has been big, and for those still with me (you crazy, wonderful, loyal peeps), I promise to reward your loyalty with more schtuff.

And today (a few days late, but still here ...) another offering of The Writing Thing.

I recently uncovered the fabulous Wordle website and decided it was the perfect place for writers to play.

Wordle's a cool application that takes whatever words you throw at it and magically makes them into what they call "word clouds." (kinda like a visual poem).  What makes them so fabulous for The Writing Thing, is that you just write a bunch of words - no sense needed - into their "Paste in a bunch of text" box, and then you hit the "go" button, and voila, you've got yourself a visual poem. (yours to futz with in multi colors and layouts to your obsessed hearts content) (not that i'd know anything about 'obsessed' ...)

Here's a sample using lyrics from Van-the-Man's Into the Mystic:

What I love about wordling your words  is that it helps to remove your editor.  Since it's just a bunch of words randomly tossed, you can simply spill out with whatever wants to come out (it doesn't have to mean anything in particular), and it still winds up feeling pretty brilliant. (a fabulous exercise for the too-attached-to-having-to-make-it-perfect sorta writer)

You can save your brilliance on Wordle's Gallery, or take a screenshot and save it for yourself/your blog (what, you think i knew how to do that w/out the help of the fabulous wiki-how?)

Here's one I did tonight ...

Give it a go yourself and then head to the comments section and leave a link to your work on the Wordle Gallery, or your blog.

If you need help getting started, pick out a word from my wordle (or van's ...), and use that as your jumping-off place.

and here we go ...

Can't believe I haven't written since the big news. 

This photo says it all ...

for my fellow star wars geeks

Check out this Flickr series of Storm Troopers in various (hysterical) poses for a good laugh.

these are not the droids you're looking for; move along

the writing thing (away)

I'm still on my holiday but: have computer and wireless, will blog.

While I've been off on my extended adventures (in ohio at the moment, but on the road home to joisey in about an hour)  (more on the adventures to come), I've been thinking of what Hemingway wrote in A Moveable Feast: "Maybe away from Paris I could write about Paris as in Paris I could write about Michigan ..." so for this writing thing, I offer: Write about being away.

You can write about a road trip ... about a vacation you once took.  What it's like to be away from the essentials.  Write about missing someone who's away.  Or maybe you'll want to write about how, no matter how long you lived there, those native Mainers always said you were "from away."  Or how, as Hemingway says, distance from a person, place or thing provides some essential perspective.  

Just take 15 or 20 minutes ... think about the Hemingway quote, think about being away ... put your pen to the paper (or fingers to the keyboard) and see where it takes you.

(and i'll see you again when i'm no longer away ...)