Loony for Limericks (Jan. 23, 2012)

Groaning, I hoisted myself out of the flannel nest I’d built for a read-n’rest and lumbered toward the computer. I typed twenty-five phrases, printed them (on paper I intend to recycle when all this has been completed), and feeling cold, brought the two sides of my red robe together with a binder clip (because the sash’s location is…unknown. Temporarily.).

My read-n-rest bad been so fab. I’m immersed in a great library book and am still tired from the major nausea of last week. The only answer was settling in to read-n-rest, head upon several bunched-up pillows, only my face and hands visible above my sleeping bag cocoon.

Why rip myself prematurely from this oasis? Very few things could have prompted me to exit my warm nest. Free fabric give-away at a local sewing store? Maybe. What did it was this: a phrase from the book I was reading. It was the cannon that shot me out of bed to start typing.

Why? It was such a wonderfully-crafted phrase. And it inspired me. Do you stop short when you read certain phrases? For me, these halt-in-your-tracks phrases usually involve something unexpected. They paint such a vivid picture. This prompted me to get my butt to the computer and type up a list of phrases. My idea was to write five tiny stories (or maybe limericks) based on a random combination of ideas. To create the random ideas, I wrote twenty-five phrases onto tiny pieces of paper. There were five categories, each with five options. The categories were: age, job, place, trait, quirk. (This last category was for fun because quirky elements make a better story.) My plan was to turn the pieces over so I couldn’t see which I was choosing, and I’d choose one from each of the five categories. Then, I’d come up with a story using these five ideas. Fiction is a departure for me, as I have loads of weird stuff from my own life about which to write. But it seemed fun to me, and I hope you will find it fun, too.

(These are the first five strips I chose at random.)

If I’d thought of it, I would have had Hubby write the phrases so I’d really be surprised when I combined them later. But I was propelled by my gusto, not by a planned-out agenda, and I think we’ll all be entertained anyway. Why five? Two seemed not enough and ten seemed too many.

As a side-note, I sometimes laugh at myself when I am struck by the lightning bolt of creativity, because it is often when I am up to my roots-are-showing hair in Important Stuff To Do. My creative projects rarely are born out of having nothing else going on. It’s the opposite. When I am one tiny mishap away from losing it completely, I think my brain kicks into Auto Pilot and conjures up something that likely will save me from…ME. A creative project. When my life feels like it’s 99.99% To Do Lists, finding something that is 100% something I WANT to do makes the rest of it less overwhelming. It recharges your heart and soul. And everyone needs that…

Limerick #1: The Clogger

I know a tall man from Prague.
He’s left-handed and loves to clog.
He eats pretzels with Tootsie Rolls,
And is 62.5 years old.
He’s a forest ranger with a 3-legged dog.

age: 62.5
job: forest-ranger
city: Prague
trait: left-handed

quirk: passionate about tootsie-rolls and pretzels together