As a younger woman I did go to a creative writing workshop and learned...

That writing is a constant muscle that must be exercised as often as possible to be viable. So keeping a journal or diary or just notes of thoughts or ideas, writing stories or novellas or poetry or what-have-you that floats your boat is a very nice way to flex those wits that will continue to function if utilized wisely and habitually. So that brings me to my nightly ranting here, and now you know my dirty little secret that… I am just doing calisthenics here nightly to keep that last frontier of me lissome. Ha, there’s a fifty dollar word for you! Ain’t thesaurus’s great? Yes, even us grammatically challenge ones enjoy a good dusting off of an out of circulation word on occasion, hmm? My point is if you must know I have been writing now for the last fifty years with gusto! My first and only play was written in 1962, wow, I hear you saying, and yes it was in utero back then, kidding! My mom wouldn’t have liked that and no, I was a fully developed preteen, well not fully developed but a twelve year old girl, oops! Gosh, the cat is out of the bag! Okay, so now you know my ability to think goes way back… nah, of course not… Still not thinking well, that is. Oh, so you thought that I was referring to the age thingy, who cares about that, it is what it is…and we all know what not getting older means, so I enjoy growing older, even if it isn’t that gracefully except in my head, okay? No comment there, I see… or read…nada, nuttin, bupkis, how polite of all of you, shall I wait? Nah, this writing thing is pure escapism for me, and hopefully reading for you is that way too? It can be for me too. Of course we all like to read to become better informed, but than I suppose you wouldn’t be reading this, hmm? Reading or not reading is a choice that we can all make for ourselves, but spelling is a new and creative past-time these days… I do believe in the olden days what most do with texting today is what secretaries did with shorthand when taking notes were all done on paper with pencils or pens. Archaic, you say! No, the beginning of all this jazz! Go with me here… I do think that it could be its genesis; fracturing the English or any other language to be able to communicate your point as swiftly as possible in a personal coding that you and a few others grasp, hmm? But it has become a universal way to get your quick points across…and that amazes me. If I wrote this in coded text that wouldn’t be that well understood, since I apparently would have to make up my own and than teach all of you what I was saying here, too complicated…just another odd thought and I have a million of them as most of you know. Below is a sampling of my writing with the vintage exposed. I have been published in books and newspapers. I even had a couple of By-lines in the local one… And still I entrap my ordinary but verbose essays complimentary here nightly for your enjoyment without fanfare! Gotta love to do anything you do and this is one of my high points of my day, that is barring family, including four-footed ones or friends or others who fit the bill of caring about…you get the idea… Here is this oldie but goodie, that was originally written to go along with an older lady in our Writer’s Workshop that I wrote it for to celebrate her birthday…enjoy… or not. “The Gift Blush colored roses with sea-foam ferns in a vibrant mug. Significance of a loving heart is represented by the florets. Long life defined by the stalks reaching skyward. A cup of human kindness of a bright wise and unique person all represented here. All contained but free enough to wander with others or alone, independence of choice, well earned and much desired. All essential distinctiveness of a woman. Circa 2001 by me” I have many more that take up room on shelves in books or running wild on their own… allow me with that more of ‘too much of a good thing’ or in modern speak, TMOAGT to be the first to wish you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages and we will too! And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?