Dilemmas

You know the drill. You *have* to pick one (and only one). All in good Friday Fun!


You've been out dancing all night. Before going to work, would you rather have a shower and wear the same clothes you wore; or not have a shower, but get to put on fresh clothes?

Pick one: no more hugs, or no more kisses?

Would you rather never be able to wear shoes, or never be able to take them off?

If you had to choose - blind or deaf?

You wake up one morning looking like Miss/Mr World. The only problem is you have to make a choice - either only you can see you as this while the rest of the world will see you as ugly; OR the rest of the world will see you as gorgeous, but you will see yourself in the mirror as ugly. Which one is it? (And yes, your "regular" looks are gone forever.)

This should be a piece of cake for any Twihards, but still.... You can either only ever read the Twilight series over and over again for the rest of your life; OR never pick up any book ever again.

Would you rather eat the food you absolutely don't like at least once every week for a year; or go without your favourite food at all for one year?

Your house is burning, and you only have the time to rescue one thing. Will it be the laptop with the ONLY copy of your nearly-finished novel; or will it be the album with the ONLY copies of your family photos?

Would you rather be stuck in a (literally) eternal line at customer services (but get actual help); OR be forced to always ask "Microsoft Help" on your computer whenever a problem arises?

And a classic at the end: Your partner is a mermaid/merman - would you have the top or bottom half be the fish-part...?

Saturday Mismatch

Ahoy me hearties! It be Saturday today, and that being the case it be a drabble day. Afore I go any further, I’ll just be rambling a little litany for ye. Ye see, although I’m thinking me portrait were a rip-roaring image to use for your inspiration, it seems that you’re all too busy with your pirating ways and haven’t managed to scribble on your planks! If I were an evil pirate, I’d be making ye walk the plank, but I’m a nice pirate and so I’ll let ye live to sail another day. Ar, that be right, me hearties!




As well as being scallywag pirates, me fellow Burrowers also like to scribble on planks ourselves, and now and again we also like to mix things around, just to keep things as fresh as the sea we sail upon. As any pirate will tell ye, ye have to keep one step ahead if ye want to avoid the hangman’s noose. Aye, me hearties, ye have to be cunning to be a successful pirate o’ the seas in today’s world. Complacency has no home aboard me ship, and not aboard the ship of any decent pirate. Yo ho ho, me hearties!



I’ll be keeping me portrait up for a wee while longer, so any pirates-to-be can still have a go at scribbling on their planks (or any other piece o’ wood they can get their hands on). In the meantime, me and me fellow pirates be working out some new crew duties for the Good Ship Burrow. But never fear, we still be sailing to a shore near you each and every day, just like we always do (well, except for once, and that blogging pirate still be having nightmares ‘bout the sharks. No decent pirate can let mutiny be unpunished).



Afore I go, I be having a little puzzle for ye. Look at this post, and look closely. This pirate be sneaky and cunning in more ways than one (like all good pirates should be). If ye be wanting to be a true heartie, then ye be figuring it out in no time, but iffen you don’t spot what I be puzzling about, have no fear, for if you have to work at it then ye be showing your dedication to becoming a pirate of the first order, and that be something to be proud of, to be sure. Arrr!



Well I be getting away now afore I mangle me litany so much that I confuse all of ye. Don’t forget to gaze at me portrait again (it be floating on the sea on the eastern side) and see if me rugged pirate looks inspire a drabble or two. All scribbles to be placed in a bottle and thrown overboard, addressed to theburrow360atgmaildotcom, and make sure you be using ‘Drabble Dare #10’ in the subject line. I’ll be off now so that I can join me crew and get brainstorming. Have a bottle o’ rum this weekend, and keep pirating!

Why do you Write?

"I don't think I want to be a pilot", my nearly seven-year old asked me. "Pilots don't have much fun. Can I be a scientist instead?"

"You can be whatever you like, as long as you are having fun", I told my son. "Enjoying what you are doing is the most important thing. It doesn't make sense doing something unless you have fun doing it."

Pat came the answer. "In that case, I don't want to study. Studying is not much fun."

I don't think I need go into the long discussion we then had about how it was important to do certain things now, so you could have fun later - any parent or teacher would be more than familiar with that particular discussion - but it did set me thinking.

I am one of those lucky people who has always had the privilege of being able to allow her career choices to be dictated by whether she was having fun or not. Sure there have been periods where I have marked time doing what I did not particularly like in anticipation of getting the experience to do something more fun in future. But for the most part, I have been able to afford doing what gives me most pleasure. The things I do outside work are also things I enjoy doing - running, reading, writing, photography. There are also the necessary evils - dusting, cooking, cleaning, commuting - but those are things that need to be done in order to survive, we don't have much choice in the matter.

Which then brings me to the question of motivation, and more particularly finding the motivation to write. All of us are either writers or have aspirations of being writers (and if you don't fall in either category, please crawl back under the stone you came from). Quick question for you - Why do you Write? Or, more accurately, why did you start writing?

There would be as many unique answers as there are people reading the question, but all of them will boil down to some variation of, "I started writing because I love writing."

The next question may need you to be more introspective - Why have you continued Writing? Answers can range from 'because I want to see my name in print', to 'because I want people to read my stories'. From, 'because I have stories to tell', to 'because my characters do not let me be till I write down their stories.' The answer may even be 'because I want to make money from my skill'.

If it is the last, you should not be seeking motivation - you have defined writing as your job, and you better put your head down and do your job or else...

But, if the answer is any of the others, put a 'why' before your answer - 'why do you want to see your name in print' - and keep doing it till you get an answer that boils down to 'because I LOVE writing'.

And the next time you find yourself running short on motivation, repeat that mantra to yourself, "I write because I LOVE writing." Once you realise that the reason you continue writing is the same reason that got you writing in the first place - the fact that writing is fun - the motivation to keep pegging away will come.

And if it doesn't? Maybe then you need to take a break from writing till the motivation comes back.

Happy Writing!
____
Photographs- Author's Own.
Models - Would you like to borrow them for a couple of days, I promise I wouldn't ask for ransom to take them back?