Sixth grade was a time of real inspiration for me. I wanted to get into some real-life Wayside School is Falling Down-type adventures. I did my best to create them, as evidenced by the fantastical Wayside-esque novel my twelve-year-old self wrote, incorporating real-life friends and classmates in… Read More »The Sixth Grade Scrapbook
Today we return to Imagination Land, the imaginary world of incredible landscapes I think of before I fall asleep. When I close my eyes, I always picture myself in the same spot: lying in the tall grass on some bluffs, overlooking the ocean. Sometimes the sun is… Read More »Imagination Land: The Forest: Part 1
Once upon a time, my husband asked what bedtime stories I would read to our hypothetical kid. This conversation somehow led to me tucking him and his teddy (i.e., our dog, Max) into bed. Then I read him stories and journal entries I wrote when… Read More »My Second-Grade Journal (1992)
Props to Playmobil: Part 1 explored some of the neat things other people were doing with their Playmobil toys. Aside from Dramobil hijinx, here’s what I’ve been doing with my own!
Sometimes I incorporate them into practical solutions, like fixing the latch on the door:
One of my goals for November 2017 was to participate in NaNoWriMo for the first time in at least five years. The month is nearly over, but it’ll be awhile before my story is. Here are just a few reasons/excuses why: Writing fiction is more daunting… Read More »How to Work on Your Book Without Actually Writing It
When I first tried to meditate, I—like most people—found it really goddamn hard. To this day, it’s still difficult: Who are these magic meditative people who can make their mind go shh, who aren’t whisked away by every thought like a mental ski lift? To at… Read More »Imagination Land: The Coastline: Part 1
This week, let’s revisit the origins of HappiMess. Each piece paved the way to this very post! It’s history in the making, people, so grant your peepers the pleasure of getting their sweet fill of this virtual gallery featuring artwork from the Pre-HappiMess Era (i.e., 1987… Read More »The Humble Beginnings of HappiMess -OR- The Little Kid Art Gallery: Part 2
Once upon a time, a.k.a., 2007, Pine Cone and I spent a ton of time chatting on AIM (i.e., the Facebook Messenger of its time). Usually these conversations would consist tortuous Would You Rather…? games (my Libran answer is always “It depends”), but on some occasions, we would… Read More »Official Rulebook to the Game of Placenta Party
This post continues exploring my childhood masterpiece, Bird and Kitty (or whatever it was actually called). When we last left off, the series of short stories penned by my elementary-school self was intensifying in emotional depth, as demonstrated in the mean-girlsy plot of the following… Read More »The Adventures of Bird and Kitty: Part 2
It Begins with Diary Lust When I was in first grade, Annie—the nine-year-old deity next door—gave me a diary she never used anymore. It had a dirt-smudged, plastic cover stippled with little geometric designs and red, blue, and yellow flowers. The lock was broken and… Read More »The Adventures of Bird and Kitty: Part 1