Just a chime....or??

[Jerry Oz]

Latin is a unique language. I looked up "usurper of worlds" and it turns out the latin word is "Littlebits".

[westgrandboulevard]

That sounds like an Anglo-Saxon translation.

[Jerry Oz]

Or the translation provided by Littlebits' ex-boyfriend...

[westgrandboulevard]

I heard all of her exes would stretch around the Equator, and all of 'em dead.....

[Jerry Oz]

Well, that's true. It's also true that if Littlebits was to eat one more Twinkie for lunch on most days, her yoga pants would stretch around the Equator.

[westgrandboulevard]

Let's just pray the elastic never snaps.

[Jerry Oz]

New movie idea: Update on "The Fantastic Voyage" where the ship is injected into Littlebits' belly to find a lost expedition. Neither the expedition nor the ship will be shrunk as they were in the original because, well, Littlebits' belly is pretty much big enough for the starship Enterprise to explore. Only thing is we won't be able to use the tag line "where no man has gone before" because many men have been there and done that.

If you know what I mean.

[arr&bee]

Thanks alot jerry,not littlebits is mad at me and talking about teaming up with the leps,she gave one of em a lap dance but when she got up he was never seen again,but that's another story.

[westgrandboulevard]

Perhaps Littlebits could become a designated planet. I'm sure she must have her own atmosphere.

Littlebits will have made an impression on the leprechaun and he, in turn, will have left his mark on her.

[Jerry Oz]

Well, I just read where the CSI technician found the leprechaun. Apparently another stripper asked Littlebits where she got the tattoo of the "cute little Irish guy" on her butt and she had no idea what she was talking about. Sadly, it was no tattoo...

[westgrandboulevard]

I hope he got a good send-off.

I can only imagine what sort of story he'll be telllng them all in leprechaun heaven.

[Jerry Oz]

He'll be talking about how he found a pot belly o' gold and thought that it could be his. Alas, nobody owns Littlebits for long. She is too much woman for one leprechaun to handle.

[westgrandboulevard]

Littlebits would be perfect for a starring role in "Gulliveretta's Travels", with the Leprechauns featuring as "The Lilliputians".

She'd be too much woman for even a whole army of them, although they might be able to tie her down for a while.....

[Jerry Oz]

Littlebits makes an NBA team look like Lilliputians...

[westgrandboulevard]

Is the time right for a remake of Godzilla?

[Jerry Oz]

It comes out in less than a month and I'm eagerly looking forward to it. When I told Littlebits that Godzilla was making a comeback, she said "Good. That fool owes me for past-due child support."

[westgrandboulevard]

From what I've learned to date about Littlebits, the one thing on her mind [[about from food) is the process involved in creating a child...

[Jerry Oz]

Yeah. Littlebits likes to think of her kids like most people think of ATM machines. The child support keeps her spandex bills manageable so her stripper tips can be used for snacks. It's a sound plan for life so long as the fathers don't expect her to keep up her part of the shared custody. She beat up the judge who gave her one hour every other weekend because it's hard to plan ahead.

[westgrandboulevard]

It sounds like half of her life is spent in front of bars - and the other half behind them....

[Jerry Oz]

The only bars that can used to contain Littlebits are of the candy variety. She's been known to stop pummeling her exes when they were smart enough to toss a Snicker bar across the floor. The only successful incarceration that she ever had was when they put a candy machine in her cell and slipped a steady stream of quarters under the door. Her primary need being met, she had no reason to leave until trial. And once the judge found out how much [[in quarters) her imprisonment was costing the taxpayers, he was forced to drop all charges.

[westgrandboulevard]

While Littlebits then immediately picked up everything and everyone she could.

Credit where it is due. She never misses an opportunity......

[Jerry Oz]

Exactly right. She immediately contacted a forklift driver who gave her a ride to the strip joint where she 'worked it' and picked up enough money for her lawyer bills. After paying it, she then threatened the poor guy into converting his fee into one dollar bills and giving it back to her in tips the next night.

[westgrandboulevard]

I have this growing feeling that Littlebits would make a very effective showbiz agent.

Or a deadly hitwoman.....

[Jerry Oz]

She's certainly a handful. Her theme song is "I'm Every Woman" but I'm less certain that she is asserting her femininity as she is acknowledging her multiple personality disorder.

[westgrandboulevard]

Another screenplay just shouting to be written :

'Littlebits : alone, she's a crowd'

[Jerry Oz]

Be careful or she'll insist on playing herself in it... And that's an expensive proposition given that the only camera capable of filming her is located on the Hubble Telescope.

[westgrandboulevard]

I was imagining a 'selfie'.

It seems very appropriate, somehow....

[Jerry Oz]

Wow. Every once and again you get me with one and you did it again with that post.

[westgrandboulevard]

I hope it whistled past you, and didn't make contact

These SDF posts are a very interesting and fun experience for me. In person, I tend to speak by giving all the details first, then tackle the headlines.

Here, I can be succinct.... and quickly edit, removing any words which seem superfluous...

[Jerry Oz]

I often compose e-mail messages at work that can get me into hot water or at least embarrass me if I sent them. These are usually morning messages [[I'm grumpy in the morning and it's not hard to divine my 6-year old inner self). Sometimes I rewrite them four or five times to take the emotion and/or inappropriate references out. Typically, by the time I send them, they are pretty professional in tone and worded the way that I think necessary to get the point across without insulting or accusing someone. I'd hate to be on the other end of my own messages if I decided to throw tact to the wind.

[westgrandboulevard]

If you're anything like me, you may tend to give yourself too much time in getting to 'the point'.

When spontaneous, immediate emotion gets in the way, it's easy to lose focus of 'the point', and then begin to 'lose the wood for the trees'....

Here, on SDF, I don't feel 'emotional' at all, but speed is of the essence - and therein lies the challenge. I've learned a lot from the exercise, and am still learning from good people like yourself.

[144man]

I'm such a slow writer that I had to develop a concise style at school otherwise I'd never have been able to answer exam questions in the time required.

[westgrandboulevard]

You've mentioned that before, and had me wondering.

Your style of writing and its pace does seem not only swift, but also concise and witty [[I'm sure Jerry, Moe and arr&bee would agree)

It seems odd, but also interesting that you feel it doesn't translate through your hand. When you mentioned it recently, I wondered if age or an accident had perhaps brought on some condition which hampered your speed, but apparently not.

Are you left-handed?

[144man]

No. I'm naturally right-handed, but if you see anything that I have written, you would assume that I had used my left hand!!!

[westgrandboulevard]

Then, knowing as much about you as I feel I do, that must be extremely frustrating for you.

The information is set in your head, ready to be expressed and poised for a response, and yet slowed up by the method used.

Perhaps it's easier for you to communicate by speech, instead of by the written word?

For myself, I am left-handed. Fortunately, I'm not a leftie who is obliged to write 'overhand' [[for example, as does Barack Obama) or at an angle. In other activities I am, to varing degrees, ambidextrous. That may be for the simple reason of adapting to the methods of 'righties'

I enjoy switching words and letters around [[e.g. puns and spoonerisms) or seeing things from a different angle. I feel that may have something to do with the 'mirror' viewpoint of being a 'leftie'.

When I post here on SDF, the words just explode onto the screen. It's like machine-gun fire, which is bothering, as I look back sometimes and think "I didn't write that, did I...??"

[144man]

Yes, it's amazing how things often seem to write themselves.[Another short reply]

It's not really that frustrating. As the ideas arrive in my head fully formed, I don't have to waste time developing them. I just have to get them down before I forget them. For example that story I started in "Let It Snow". I could have padded it out with a lot more descriptive passages, but I don't know if it would have been worth the effort. I think I said all I needed to.

[westgrandboulevard]

For me, I get one thing buzzing in my head, and then start to type, and it seems to flow from there.

Like you, I have to move quickly, as everything is constantly jostling in my head, and I might forget something. Once the moment is lost, etc... I've now taken to carrying a little pocket note book with me, just to make jottings of items which come into my head, so I can move on.

The keyboard is so much better than the days of writing it all out in longhand - then sometimes tearing it all up, in frustration!

Re: the story in 'Let It Snow' - you probably did say all you needed to, for that particular occasion. Have you noticed how much quicker is to read something like that, than it is to compose and type it? I guess that is why most people will read items, rather than compose them.

[144man]

Yes, I have noticed how much quicker it is to read something like that; but mainly because I tend to read it aloud before I send it in case I need to tweak the punctuation or correct the grammar.

[westgrandboulevard]

Do you find your reading speed is, in proportion, as 'slow' as you feel your writing speed to be - or faster?

That's interesting what you say about reading your written words aloud to tweak punctuation or correct grammar. It may be very common, but I've not enountered it too much before [[although there was a man singing right next to me, as we viewed the same shelf in the supermarket on Thursday evening...) It's almost as if your thought process is being re-routed in your mind...

[144man]

No. I'm the fastest reader I know, but my reading speed has got slower in recent years for some unknown reason.

I wouldn't read a short post like this aloud, only one with several paragraphs.

[westgrandboulevard]

On the upside...... I can write quickly by longhand, I can type quickly [[too fast sometimes, so it needs correction) and I can read fast.

On the downside......routine, mundane tasks represent a bore, and a chore - but are tackled, as not to do them would be worse.

Also, the brain trying to sort all input at speed, in order of interest or necessity, can be a tad draining. But better than just sitting, thinking "nothing interesting to do.." I guess I'm open to inspiration at all times.

I wonder if you were one of those eager boys at school, with his hand held as high as possible in the air, when he knew the answer to the questions posed by the teacher....

[Jerry Oz]

I love to read. I love to write, as well. My Mom was angry with my primary school teachers for not developing my handwriting, which tends to be done in a rushed and consequently sloppy manner. I think too hard about what I write. Contrary to what WGB was a asking, I tend to get to the point much to soon before realizing that I need to preface it or put it into context first. Consequently, a three-second thought takes five minutes to write.

Oddly, although I have the patience to edit the crop out of a simple SDF post, I don't have the patience to write a book, which I would love to do. When you spend a day writing one page before reading it the next day and wondering how to better phrase 90% of what you wrote, it tends to drain your enthusiasm.

[Jerry Oz]

I love to read. I love to write, as well. My Mom was angry with my primary school teachers for not developing my handwriting, which tends to be done in a rushed and consequently sloppy manner. I think too hard about what I write. Contrary to what WGB was a asking, I tend to get to the point much to soon before realizing that I need to preface it or put it into context first. Consequently, a three-second thought takes five minutes to write.

Oddly, although I have the patience to edit the crap out of a simple SDF post, I don't have the patience to write a book, which I would love to do. When you spend a day writing one page before reading it the next day and wondering how to better phrase 90% of what you wrote, it tends to drain your enthusiasm.

[westgrandboulevard]

It shouldn't take patience to write, as it should come instinctively. You might think later "hmmm, I did take a while to do that" but it shouldn't happen too often during the process.

If someone like you, who has the ability to express themselves eloquently, and at speed, yet feels it is taking too long - then I'd say something [[whatever it may be, and probably nothing too deep or complicated) is suppressing your instinct, and holding back your natural flow...

[Jerry Oz]

The writing is easy enough. The reading, for someone who is hyper-critical about making it easy for the readers [[without insulting their intelligence)? Not so much. The constant question: Is that what I meant to say? I know that nine times out of ten, it is, yet nine times out of ten, I edit it anyway. Reading should be easy and there should be no opportunity to be misunderstood. That is an impossible way to approach a successful writing effort, yet that specifically holds me back every single time.

[westgrandboulevard]

Yes, you're definitely talking yourself out of it. Your high sense of values is creating inflexibility, which hampers creativity.

When the writing is being done just for you, don't edit as you go. It just won't work.

Keep typing and typing while the flow is there, and not think how it will be received.

Artists can't sing on stage while, in their minds, also be sat in the stalls, watching the show.

Writing, like singing or whatever, needs a simple, straightforward, wholehearted approach...

[Jerry Oz]

Of course, you are right. I actually have taken to "sketching" story lines, the same way I sketch a drawing. I come up with a the story, which is like a stick figure while drawing. I then figure out how to get from point A to point Z by writing brief summaries of chapters [[akin to putting muscles and depth to my stick man). I then flesh out the chapters in minimal depth, like I put clothes and a general facial expression on my subject.

And then I render the details. And render the details... And render the details...... Ultimately, my writing effort is akin to drawing and erasing the figure's shirt a dozen times, ignoring the rest of the composition before saying "screw it" and giving up again. I actually think that I'm afraid of putting a year into something that is essentially for my benefit [[I couldn't care less about being published) and finding out that even I don't like what I wrote.

So I put all of my emphasis into drawing as I go along instead of sketching and anyone who loves to create art knows that starting with the details and working your way out is going to result in a poorly developed and uninteresting piece. It's the same when writing a book.

[westgrandboulevard]

Yes, there has to be a structure to it all.

I'm not sure you actually need to start out with one, but one does need to be formed, and then worked around, with plot lines, etc.

It all depends on where the details take you. When you reach the end, you may need to rewrite the beginning!

[144man]

I wonder if you were one of those eager boys at school, with his hand held as high as possible in the air, when he knew the answer to the questions posed by the teacher....

Never. I instinctively knew that if I did that I'd get bullied. My dad had taught me never to volunteer. In primary school I was completely average, and when to everybody's surprise I passed my 11+ exam, I was just another student at grammar school, excelling only at languages.

[144man]

Yes, there has to be a structure to it all.

I'm not sure you actually need to start out with one, but one does need to be formed, and then worked around, with plot lines, etc.

It all depends on where the details take you. When you reach the end, you may need to rewrite the beginning!

You're right. A number of times I've had good ideas for short stories, but without an ending. I've started to write them, hoping the situations would resolve themselves, but they very rarely do. I still have several short stories, written for my own amusement, uncompleted because I could never find a satisfactory ending. One of them is very detailed, based on a dream I had. Unfortunately I woke up too soon.