Wrinkles And Wisecracks by Bob Jones

 

“If wisdom comes with age, then I don’t have wrinkles, they’re just wisecracks.”

 

Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul.

 

 

Words are lyrical.

 

Listen to the sound of the word, wrinkle. The appearance of wrinkles may be irritating but at least the word has a cool sound.

 

I like how Ardis Mayo draws the best out of wrinkles by calling them, “maps of wisdom.” And Jennifer Chesak, a Nashville-based writing instructor, imagines wrinkles as fine lines that “represent life's worth-it moments like grins that have stretched across our faces.”

 

Mark Twain wrote, “Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.”

 

Are you starting to feel better about wrinkles? I hope so. You and I are collecting them as we age. Perhaps you can see those smile lines in a new way as "wisecracks".  Ha!

 

I can’t help but think of Madeline L’Engle when I think of wrinkles.

 

Have you read her book, A Wrinkle in Time?  In 1960, 26 publishers wrinkled up their noses at her first attempt at a novel. It was, in L'Engle's words, "too different," and "because it deals overtly with the problem of evil, and had a female protagonist in a children’s science fiction book".

 

However, the book was hugely successful, winning literary awards, and was turned into a movie, a TV series, an opera, and even a theatre production.

 

L’Engle set out to show that the fight against evil requires more than great knowledge and intelligence. Intelligence without morality can easily slip into an authoritarian and brutal reality. Rather, that fight requires embracing those things that pure mental intelligence can’t grasp—love, courage, self-sacrifice, and humility.

 

The world needs writers like you, who furrow your brow as you ponder how your words can make the difference you know is so needed. 

 

Salt your writing with love, having the courage to write the truth, and the self-sacrifice of vulnerability. Add in the humility of humour and you'll keep those wisecracks coming.

Bob furrows his brow as he writes at REVwords.com

The Irony of Writing by Tandy Balson

The irony was not lost on me.  I had been putting off writing this month’s blog post because I couldn’t think of anything to say.  Our prompt is to write about a time we were stripped bare and not able to write.  My difficulty was coming up with a specific time this has happened to me.  My subconscious mind shouted, “How about right now?”

My deadline was in mere hours and I needed to focus.  No ideas were coming but I had fifteen minutes before I needed to leave for an appointment so knew I should at least get a thought or two down on paper. Instead, my gift of procrastination took over. I set up the ironing board and worked on making my husband’s shirts wrinkle-free! I know I’m in avoidance when I choose ironing over writing!

As I ironed, I remembered a quote I’d seen on a t-shirt.  It said:  Irony – the opposite of wrinkly. I’d been looking for a place to use this quote and realized I’d just found it. My mind was wrinkly and thoughts were getting caught in those deep crevices.  If I could smooth out my thoughts I knew the words would come.  Perhaps the irony was just what was needed.

My writing mainly consists of short inspirational pieces that are posted online twice a week. Inspiration for these comes from events in my life or conversations I overhear. As an observer of life, there is usually plenty of material. In the times of creative abundance, I write as much as possible and save the extra stories in a file marked “Draft” on the computer.  This file is like an insurance policy. I know there will be occasions when I am not productive. For one reason or another, I am unable to string words together into a cohesive story.

Knowing I have backup material relieves the pressure of having to come up with a new idea. Sometimes I use one of these stories. Other times just looking through the titles springboards me into a new thought to write about.  I also have a file of pictures I’ve taken.  More than once I have looked through the pictures and been inspired to write about one of them.

These solutions are good when I can choose my topic.  Writing to theme is always more of a challenge for me.  Maybe what I did today works best.  First I engaged in a mindless activity and let my subconscious come up with an idea. Next, I sat at the computer and invited my subconscious to connect with my fingers.  Before I knew it, words had formed.  In order to write, I had to free myself of the need to write.  That plays directly into my sense of irony!