Photo by LatteDa
Every day is a big day.
Today, the trees are bare in Georgia. I see the white bark and skeletal branches from my window.
Today, Talia will smile at me and we'll talk about our days. I will call my parents to see how their flight home was.
Today, I will be alive, and most of the time that's enough for me.
However, today is special for a few other reasons:
1. NaNoWriMo is over.
For those of you who participated in NaNoWriMo, today's the last day. For a month, you bled onto the page. For those of you who finished the 50,000 word requirement, good job. You have accomplished a major achievement. For those of you who came up short, good job. Writing is hard, and you've started something. I'm proud of you for trying.
If you participated in NaNoWriMo, I'd love to hear (and maybe post) about your experience. Send me an email about it.
2. I am an editor.
Today is also a big day for me. Today, I begin a new project as the assistant editor to Andy Meisenheimer. Andy is a former acquisitions editor for a division of Harper Collins. Now, he is a freelance editor who has worked on New York Time's Bestsellers like Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts. I'm thrilled to be working with him.
3. The Write Practice has been nominated as a Top 10 Blog for Writers.
About a week ago, I asked some of the Write Practice's core supporters to consider nominating the Write Practice for this contest. Their response overwhelmed me. Here's what people said:
If there is a specific category for “encourages the art of writing in everyone” I believe you have your winner.
—Gord
As the CEO of an organization that initiates 600+ new bloggers a year, I’ve found The Write Practice to be a great help in helping them improve. For a relatively new blog, it’s amazing how quickly it’s caught on.
—Seth
Joe’s blog doesn’t just give you good tips for practicing, and helpful hints, it gets us involved! More than any other writing blog, I’ve found the feedback from Joe and the other readers on everybody’s contributions the best way for me to polish my writing.
—Audrey
Each day, committed “Bunties” visit the site to receive Joe’s thoughtful topical content, and then attempt an easy-to-try, only-go-for-15-minutes writing prompt. The low-threat nudge makes it almost impossible not to jump in. From here, Joe takes time to nurture every response…giving meaningful feedback that promotes even more learning. I’ve developed more as a writer here in just a few months than I have previously, in years of personal solo study.
—Kati
This website has made me grow as writer in many ways. I HIGHLY recommend it!
—Jim
There are so many worthy writing blogs out there, but what makes this one unique is how extremely practical and relevant it is. You may read some blogs, inspired or wishing you could do what the writers are talking about, but the Write Practice (with its daily prompts and encouragements) will actually make you better. It’s focused and intentional, providing exactly what every writer needs: PRACTICE.
—Jeff Goins
I love this blog, both as a writer and a person interested in seeing other writers succeed. Joe’s insights are good for both new and accomplished writers, and the exercises keep his readers writing and learning every day.
—Mark
Joe’s a great coach and cheerleader. In The Write Practice, he’s building a community and cultivating an environment where it’s safe to practice and go out on a limb. I suppose I’d consider him my personal Tim Gunn of writing — just younger and straight (and married).
—Sara
I'm humbled that such talented writers are finding the Write Practice helpful for their creativity and their writing. If you feel the same, would you nominate the Write Practice?
Just follow this link, scroll to the bottom, enter your name and email address, and leave a comment saying, “I nominate the Write Practice because…”
Don't forget to tell them why.
Thanks for reading, guys, and thanks for practicing!
PRACTICE
I always think of blogging competitions as kind of like beauty pageants. They can be really creepy and weird, like a children's pageant where all the six-year-olds have spray-on tans. They can also be pretty hilarious, like when the self-obsessed bottle-blonde riffs on the state of the education system.
So write about a beauty pageant gone wrong in some way. Maybe a skunk dies in the radiator. Maybe the spray-on tan machine got some green ink in it. You could even take it to a serious level by talking about the contestant whose boyfriend just died in Iraq.
Write for fifteen minutes. When you're finished post your practice in the comments.
Wow! Such a big day for you indeed. I love Write Practice, and it is a pleasure to collaborate and converse with you about writing, Joe. Congrats on your new project. 🙂
Thanks Bethany!
Wow! Such a big day for you indeed. I love Write Practice, and it is a pleasure to collaborate and converse with you about writing, Joe. Congrats on your new project. 🙂
Thanks Bethany!
Congrats. You definitely deserve the nomination. If you don’t win, then the contest is rigged.
Thanks Jeremy!
Congrats. You definitely deserve the nomination. If you don’t win, then the contest is rigged.
Thanks Jeremy!
Wow, that’s awesome! Congratulations to Joe and all other contributors! I’m thrilled to be a part of such an inspiring community.
Thanks Jim 🙂
Wow, that’s awesome! Congratulations to Joe and all other contributors! I’m thrilled to be a part of such an inspiring community.
Thanks Jim 🙂
The five judges had been sequestered for over three hours while the contestants sat waiting in a separate secured area.
“What’s taking them so long?” Miss Arkansas asked. She was pacing back and forth in the far corner of the banquet hall far away from the drama. Irony was, she had been the source of all that drama but didn’t realize it, or just chose not to acknowledge it.
All heads turned when one of the pageant officials entered the double doors and headed directly toward the candidate from “The Natural State.”
“Miss Arkansas, the judges would like to speak with you.”
“What for?”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss this with you. I’ll let them tell you.”
As the two of them walked towards the exit to leave, all the other candidates began to applaud. Miss Arkansas looked up and gave her best pageant wave. She was deeply touched by their show of support.
“Thank you sisters! I love you too! I wish for you happiness and peace in your world.” She gave one last wave and exited the door. She heard the beauty queens cheering and singing as she walked down the hall.
As Miss Arkansas entered the judges’ room, she saw them gathered at the far end of the conference table.
“That’s far enough, Miss Arkansas. You may stand down there at that end of the table.”
The pageant official quickly left her side and exited the room, shutting the door behind her.
“You must be wondering why we sent for you,” the head judge said. “As you know, we had to abruptly close down tonight’s pageant without any explanation.”
“Yes, the women are all upset about it,” Miss Arkansas answered. “And I want you to know that since you have selected me as their spokesperson, I will do everything in my power to remedy this situation.”
“We are so glad to hear you say that,” the judge said. “We understand that being from the Natural state, you have chosen for you platform, Organic Communities. But we need to ask you one big favor.”
“Yes, whatever you ask.”
“Would you please take a shower with soap? And shave while you’re in there. Thank you.”
Hahaha. This is so funny Tom. I love how you set this up, not explaining too much so that the punch line would be bare and exposed. You kind of take a risk because some people might not get it, but those that do will love it. And I just love the way you take the cliched blonde beauty queen and mix it with the cliched tree hugger and get this whole new archetype, the green ditz. It’s great.
I think the best part was the cheering. We sort of know she doesn’t get it because you told us, but we also don’t know why. We wonder, did she really win? But we doubt it. But she’s so convinced we doubt our doubt. Then we find the true cause. It’s perfect.
This would be publishable as flash fiction, I think.
The five judges had been sequestered for over three hours while the contestants sat waiting in a separate secured area.
“What’s taking them so long?” Miss Arkansas asked. She was pacing back and forth in the far corner of the banquet hall far away from the drama. Irony was, she had been the source of all that drama but didn’t realize it, or just chose not to acknowledge it.
All heads turned when one of the pageant officials entered the double doors and headed directly toward the candidate from “The Natural State.”
“Miss Arkansas, the judges would like to speak with you.”
“What for?”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss this with you. I’ll let them tell you.”
As the two of them walked towards the exit to leave, all the other candidates began to applaud. Miss Arkansas looked up and gave her best pageant wave. She was deeply touched by their show of support.
“Thank you sisters! I love you too! I wish for you happiness and peace in your world.” She gave one last wave and exited the door. She heard the beauty queens cheering and singing as she walked down the hall.
As Miss Arkansas entered the judges’ room, she saw them gathered at the far end of the conference table.
“That’s far enough, Miss Arkansas. You may stand down there at that end of the table.”
The pageant official quickly left her side and exited the room, shutting the door behind her.
“You must be wondering why we sent for you,” the head judge said. “As you know, we had to abruptly close down tonight’s pageant without any explanation.”
“Yes, the women are all upset about it,” Miss Arkansas answered. “And I want you to know that since you have selected me as their spokesperson, I will do everything in my power to remedy this situation.”
“We are so glad to hear you say that,” the judge said. “We understand that being from the Natural state, you have chosen for you platform, Organic Communities. But we need to ask you one big favor.”
“Yes, whatever you ask.”
“Would you please take a shower with soap? And shave while you’re in there. Thank you.”
Hahaha. This is so funny Tom. I love how you set this up, not explaining too much so that the punch line would be bare and exposed. You kind of take a risk because some people might not get it, but those that do will love it. And I just love the way you take the cliched blonde beauty queen and mix it with the cliched tree hugger and get this whole new archetype, the green ditz. It’s great.
I think the best part was the cheering. We sort of know she doesn’t get it because you told us, but we also don’t know why. We wonder, did she really win? But we doubt it. But she’s so convinced we doubt our doubt. Then we find the true cause. It’s perfect.
This would be publishable as flash fiction, I think.
Joe Bunting for Presidential Speech Writer.
Ouch! Don’t call me such a terrible name 😉
Joe Bunting for Presidential Speech Writer.
Ouch! Don’t call me such a terrible name 😉
Big day indeed! Congrats, Joe!
Thanks Ryan!
Big day indeed! Congrats, Joe!
Thanks Ryan!
Super congrats on the well deserved recognition!
Super congrats on the well deserved recognition!
Joe, congrats on the nomination and your new project! Off to cast my vote for the B-E-S-T writing blog around. 🙂
Wow. Thanks Sherrey.
Joe, congrats on the nomination and your new project! Off to cast my vote for the B-E-S-T writing blog around. 🙂
Wow. Thanks Sherrey.
First, congratulations on your new position! Sounds awesome! And congratulations on the nomination!
Second, I’m NaNoWriMo-ing for the final day of intensity. I hit 50,000 words a few hours ago but the story isn’t quite over yet. I’ll email you about it when I have more words… so tomorrow. 😉
Third, toddlers in tiaras officially creeps me out.
Katie
Thanks Katie 🙂
Wow, nice job. Get it done!
It’s a birthday hat, but point taken 😉
First, congratulations on your new position! Sounds awesome! And congratulations on the nomination!
Second, I’m NaNoWriMo-ing for the final day of intensity. I hit 50,000 words a few hours ago but the story isn’t quite over yet. I’ll email you about it when I have more words… so tomorrow. 😉
Third, toddlers in tiaras officially creeps me out.
Katie
Thanks Katie 🙂
Wow, nice job. Get it done!
It’s a birthday hat, but point taken 😉
It was late in the afternoon. Orange light filtered from the open stadium. She looked up to her father. He was looking elsewhere, like the mother who was herself busy with her own children.
The mother patted her own child’s tiara. She had blonde hair. Her own wasn’t much. Just a teeny brown one. She blinked. Her father was still eyeing the mother.
The mother narrowed her eyes at her fussing child. “Stay still Jennifer.” The girl, Jennifer, pouted. Her teeth were very white and were very fixed. She twirled her own tongue at her teeth. She still had braces.
“But Mom-” Jennifer crossed her arms. “This place stinks. This dress stinks. I stink.”
The Mom looked at everyone else who was watching. She forced a grin, like the one you see on TV dramas when the evil stepmother gets caught doing something bad, and laughed a fake laugh. “My little girl, her first audition, nerves getting to her.” She eyed everyone and was smiling and caught her Dad’s eye. The mother’s smile dropped as her father smiled back. Her father had a great smile. The mother suddenly looked away, turning around and faced her pouting child, patting and fixing her costume.
“Dad,” she said. She pinched him on his pants. She didn’t quite reach up to her father, her father was very tall. “Dad, can we go home?”
Her father kept smiling his goofy smile at the mother. She blinked then hit him on his knees. “Dad!”
“Ow,” Her father said. “Zoey?” He looked down at her, frowning. “What’s wrong kid?”
She clenched her teeth, almost hissing at her father. “I wanna go home. I wanna see Steven hit the princess queen lady with his fight stick. I wanna see my Diana bir-bir- borned her baby puppies.”
“Dear.” Her father huffed and sighed. “We’ll go home. I just need to do this for you mother, okay? The pageant,we got a deal-”
A man, a fat burly man, strode in. He was smoking a tobacco. She looked at her father, blinking. Tobacco’s were illegal.
“Okay,” The fat man had a big voice. Zoey felt her knees soften. She held onto her father’s knees. “AC’s busted up. We can’t do the contest inside- We’ll all die.”
The mother piped up. “So the winner is decided then?”
The fat man stared her down and the mother looked away again. “Again. AC’s dead. Competition is held outside, gladiator style.”
Her father fixed himself up. “You make it sound the kids are gonna beat each other up.”
The fat man smiled at his father, he had great pearly whites. He had very colorful braces. Rainbows. Blue. Red. Yellow. “Figuratively, sir. Metaphorically. They’re gonna beat the sh-”
“Okay.” Her father sighed. “AC’s busted. We’ll go outside.”
The pouting girl started shouting. “But it’s so hot. The sun is so hot. We’re gonna get friend like eggs. I hate eggs.”
The mother looked shock, frozen. The girl was stamping her feet, tears threatened to spill from her pretty eyes. Her father blinked, then dragged her all the way to the frozen mother.
“Everything okay here?” Her father said.