So, tonight I am sitting here, listening to country music and I found myself browsing once again for quotes.  Hmmm, what is being said about mistakes?  Oh, wait!  Did the great minds of the past believe in soul mates?  What do they say about friendship, success, love?

I love quotes. It is truly amazing how some individuals can express thoughts so succinctly that they reverberate through time continually creating new knowledge and new perspectives.  We all our have our favorites.  You know the one I am talking about, the one quote that resonates right down to your deepest core.  It is the quote that you immediately remembered and never forgot.

Mine was “Be the change you want to see in the world.” by Gandhi.   I read that on the wall of Magickal Things, in Culpeper Virginia one day and all I could think was “Of course.”  It was such a simplistic truth.  How did I miss that one?

Well, let’s see … I would like to see more courtesy in the world; I need to consistently show courtesy.  I do not want to see our world polluted; I need to do my part in reducing pollution.  I would love to see an end to violence of all forms; I need to control my temper.

As a society, we cannot expect to live in the world we envision if we do not make the necessary individual changes.  What actions we show today will direct tomorrow’s society on the path we wish it to follow.  It is not a fast process, there is no instant gratification, but it generates such a satisfying sense of accomplishment and it is the most effective way we, as individuals, can make a difference.

Not all the changes we chose to make will be as easy as deciding to carpool to reduce energy usage.  Some will require thoughtful examination of the very foundations our lives are built on.  These are the challenges that I find myself tripping over.

One example of a foundational lifestyle challenge that I am personally working on is the temper that I mentioned above.  I have a bad temper.  For the most part, it is has been under control for years and I do not need to take ten deep breaths before I respond to an irate situation.  However, there are still certain people who can push my buttons.   I will find myself forgetting to take deep breaths, forgetting to create intentional responses and forgetting my commitment to end verbal violence.  I just blow.

When I trip up like this, there are two choices before me.  Give up and accept verbal violence as the way of the world or pick myself up, go through a mental checklist about what went wrong and try again.  This mental checklist process requires a deep examination of our inner selves; the part that most of us would rather keep buried in the depths of our being.

It would be okay if I were the only person hurt when I trip. I created the situation; I have to endure the bruises.  However, everything we do generates ripples.  Somewhere, my failure hurt someone – usually the person/people very closest to my heart.    I find that I can get no rest until I have fully apologized, complete with an explanation and a plan to avoid future occurrences.  This apology process creates accountability for me and that accountability is fertilizer for my growth.

So, I am sitting here tonight listening to country music, pondering one of my recent trip-ups (it wasn’t my temper this time, lol) and ended up thinking about my favorite quote.  Be the change you wish to see in the world.  These simple, succinct words encourage us towards difficult challenges but promise great rewards for our world, our society and ourselves.

OTHER WORD CHOICES:  chance, accidental, haphazard, unsystematic, hit and miss

AND yes, arbitrary is another word for Random.

Here are two off the wall words that I found that also can be synonyms for Random:

Stochastic:  (stuh-KAS-tik) adjective: Involving chance; random; probabilistic.
     Etymology:  From Greek stokhos (aim, target, a pointed stake for an archer to aim at). Earliest documented use: 1662.
     Usage:  “Medicine is a stochastic science — no doctor can predict the future.”  Sandeep Jauhar; When Doctors Slam the Door; The New York Times; Mar 16, 2003.

Ergodic: (ərˈgädik) of or pertaining to the condition that, in an interval of sufficient duration, a system will return to states that are closely similar to previous ones: the assumption of such a condition underlies statistical methods used in modern dynamics and atomic theory.
An easier way of saying this is:  a system will randomly change states but will eventually return to its original state.
Etymology:  early 20th century (1926) from German ergoden, from Greek ergon ‘work’ + hodos ‘way’ + -ic
Usage:  In an ergodic forest, while the size, shape and spacing of individual trees may vary, their distribution in any given area is the same as any other area. http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Theoretical+speed+above+which+birds+and+drones+are+sure+to+crash…-a0277579590

POV (Point of View):  Point of view in literature is probably the biggest single area of novel writing that aspiring writers have problems with. More specifically, they often can’t decide whether to use first person or third person point of view.  This can be the single most important decision a writer makes about their novel and if it is not handled correctly it can guarantee a novel’s failure.

First person:  the “I” voice; all narration written as if the narrator were speaking directly to the readers. The narrator is one of the characters, not the author as in omniscient p.o.v.
Third person: the “s/he” voice; a mix of the other two, a compromise between first person and omniscient p.o.v.
Third Person Limited(limited to one person): This is probably the best bet for beginning writers. Here, the narration refers to all the characters by third-person pronouns (he, she, it), each self-contained scene follows the viewpoint of one specific character.
Third person multiple: your viewpoint is limited to more than one character. You’ll need at least one other viewpoint if you include scenes in which your protagonist is not present. But always confine yourself to one point of view per scene. Don’t switch viewpoint unless you’re starting a new scene.
Omniscient: a point of view not written from “inside” anyone’s head; unseen narrator knows what all the characters are thinking.  Janet Burroughway describes, in WRITING FICTION, the total omniscient author as “God.

You can freely switch viewpoint characters when you change scenes, but it’s a little tricky to switch in a short story. You have to make sure you are not confusing the reader. Using a blank line helps. In novels you can shift at the end of a chapter, or with a blank line within a chapter.

Well, you guessed it!  There was no class on 16th.  Dan and I were the only ones who were not involved with vacation, hiking, long car trips, etc …

So, I held on to the activities and we did them this week.  The first activity this week provoked much laughter and group interaction while the second activity was a little more introspective.

Here are the activities for this weeks workshop:

1. Group Fiction Free Flow
1. Everyone takes a blank sheet of paper.  They write the beginning of a short story for 5 minutes.  The prompt is: “You’ve left town – ditching your old, miserable life – hoping to start a new life for yourself.  You’ve given yourself a new name, fake background and style.  Write about your first encounter in your new town.”
2. Pass the paper to your neighbor.  Read what has been written and turn your paper over to signal you have finished reading.
3. Continue the story for 5 more minutes.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until the story returns to the original author.
5. Note: For large groups, break into smaller groups of 4 or 5.
   This week’s sample is from this group writing.  And will be posted shortly.
2. Write following the Free Flow Guidelines.  The prompt is, “Write about a time when you were lost.  This can be emotionally, spiritually or literally physically lost.

This week’s vocabulary …

This week’s writing/grammar …