Have you ever been cruising along writing and then “bang” you hit a wall, you get stuck on a metaphor? Or maybe you should have used a simile? You think and think, but they all sound so cliché.  But you do know that YOU ARE stuck.  You just can’t find the exact phrase for your paragraph and you are about ready to throw in the towel.   However, don’t bite the bullet, yet.  You still have another hour of writing left today.  Oh well, try not to rack your brains over it.  

Where did all these phrases come from anyway?   Come to think of it, where did the phrase “rack your brains” come from?  Evidently, the origin of this expression came from a medieval instrument called a “rack”.   It was used to torture prisoners by placing the victim’s hands and legs in a rack type apparatus and then the person was stretched over rollers slowing dislocating and tearing the limbs from the body.  This gruesome torture is compared to “racking” your brain when you are trying to detach your ideas, words or a memory from your brain and it’s torture to do so. 

Do you get writers block, while torturing your brain for the perfect words that fit your scene to a tee?  All writers do.   Don’t get hung up on semantics, you have to keep writing.  It’s just a draft.  Move on. 

The best way to get off the dime is to skip the perfectionism and move on by the seat of your pants.  Remember that getting in your word count is the goal, and getting it down on paper is more important.  The perfect phrase can come later; besides many phrases have lost most of their impact because of overuse.  So don’t be lazy and fill in with a trite simile.  Be more off the cuff and stick to your guns when it comes to your writing goals.   Move on without the perfect phrase. 

Besides if you push the envelope, that perfect phrase will be there later or maybe it’s not needed in the scene after all.  You get the gist of it.  

Here are some a few of my favorite phrases or words translated:

• Synonym- a word you use when you can’t spell the other one.
• Syntax- a way in which you pay for your misdemeanors.
• A brief- Why do lawyers write a 10,000 word document and call it a “brief”?
• Parasites- What you see from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
• Pharmacist- No, it is NOT a helper on a farm.
• Polarize- No, it’s NOT what penguins see with.
• Toad- What happened to an illegally parked frog. 
• Vacuum Cleaner-  A broom with a stomach.
• A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people. -Thomas Mann

What are your favorite clichés and quotes?  Have you heard any new “go to” phrases? 

As children across the country start school, we as parents need to remember one very basic safety rule:  if your child rides a bike they need to wear a helmet.  Their brains will thank you. 

As parents, we’re not idiots.  All parents worry about their kids’ health and safety. We protect our children with cupboard latches, electrical plug covers and car seats, but when it comes to our kid’s recreational activities we relax the overprotective paranoia and give in.  I know.  I do it too.  I see kids riding bikes and skateboarding through my neighborhood streets without helmets. My neighbor’s give-in too. 

And yet, sports and recreation accidents, such as bicycling, skating and skateboarding account for 10% of all head traumas.  Of these head injuries 88% of that could be eliminated if helmets were worn.  Then why do only 8% of all riders wear helmets?

In some states, like mine, it’s mandatory to wear helmets while riding bikes, but not for skateboarding or skating, or even motorcycle riders do not need helmets.  Really?   Riders, you gotta wear helmets! Parents, you gotta get your kids to wear helmets!  Not encasing your head in this protective layer when you’re moving on anything except your own two feet is just stupid.  Plain stoopid.  Helmets protect the head from injury.  Think of jello in a jar shaken up.  That’s what happens to your brain if your head hits the pavement hard.

Why do parents let their kids ride their bikes or skateboards without helmets?  We parents give in when our children complain that their helmet messes up their hair, or that their helmet makes them too hot, or it’s not “cool” to wear a helmet.  My kids have also pleaded with me saying, “mom, we won’t fall off our bike.”  And for the most part they do not.  “But,” I remind them, “we always wear seatbelts in the car, and we’ve never had an accident.” 

Maybe we need to be reminded ourselves on what can happen to their brain when it’s not protected should they fall.  Demonstrate to your kids how a helmet can protect their precious brain by dropping an egg into a styrofoam lined box.   Then drop the egg on the pavement.  Point made.  The helmet cushions their head. 

My kids ride bikes, skateboard and play hockey.  When I see them, they are wearing helmets.  However, I was horrified by a youtube video I saw of my teenage son preforming skateboarding tricks sans a helmet.   If your stomach can handle it, check out the first few seconds of the attached skateboarding video where my son flew over a staircase and landed smack-dab on his back and conked his head!  Turn up the sound and you can actually hear the “thud” of his noggin hitting pavement.  Not cool.  He is a poster child for why kids SHOULD wear helmets and the motivation for this blog.  And yes, he has since been reprimanded (so no hate emails please) and he does get up and walk away.  He is reminded over and over to wear a helmet.  He wears it while ice skating and we now pray he wears it skateboarding, even when we’re not looking. 

Kids wear helmets!  Your parents are not being overprotective paranoia freaks; it’s just one less thing for us to worry about.

Do you have your kids wear helmets?  Is it a law in your state? 

 I was horrified by this youtube video I saw of my teenage son preforming skateboarding tricks sans a helmet.

“An estimated 500,000 persons per year in the United States sustain a brain or spinal cord injury. In fact, injury is the leading cause of death among children and teens. The most frequent causes of these injuries are motor vehicle crashes, violence, falls, sports and recreation. The good news is that most injuries are preventable!” ThinkFirst

Go to the ThinkFirst National Injury Prevention Foundation’s web site to learn more about programs aimed at helping people learn to reduce their risk for injury.  www.thinkfirst.org

CPSC in cooperation with Circus World Displays has asked consumers to stop using the Levana Wireless video baby monitors.  The wiring in the baby monitor camera can overheat and emit smoke, posing a burn hazard to consumers.  There have been several reports of the camera portion of the monitors overheating and smoking. No injuries have been reported.

This recall involves Levana wireless baby monitors with model number LV-TW300. The receiver front is white and green with six round buttons and the printed word “Levana”. It is 7 inches tall and includes a stand/base. The camera is all white, about 5 inches tall and is attached to a 3 1/2 inch long white base. The camera can rotate and swivel in various directions. The camera and receiver each has its own A/C adapter.

The product is manufactured in China and sold at BB Buggy & Health and Safety stores nationwide and on the Internet between February 2010 and May 2010 for about $200.

Consumers should immediately stop using and return the baby monitor directly to CWD for a refund or replacement with a different model. For additional information, contact Circus World Displays toll-free at (866) 946-7828 

*  Twitter – a place to talk to yourself, publicly. 

* I use to think a tweet was a sweet treat for a tweedy bird, not a message of up to 140 characters shared on Twitter.

* On twitter, breaking news spreads like wildfire—140 characters at a time.

* I always feel like I’m tweavesdropping on other people’s conversations.

* And then how do I jump in a conversation?  I’m still learning my twetiquette.

* What is scary is that Twitter is “over capacity” during the prime work hours.  Who’s working, if everyone is tweeting? 

* Left on voicemail; “Hi Sue, this is Kristen, Twitter was down this morning.  Call me right away when you get this message.  I’m dying to know what you had for breakfast.” 

* In my business meeting this week I said , Hello all my tweeple…um people.

* I have finally learned to stop calling it “Tweeter”.  It’s Twitter.  And people tweet, you twit. 

* Maybe someday I will get tweeting and become a full fledge twanthropologist.

* What’s worse than your dad following you on Twitter?  Your boss is following you. 

* If someone is Twittering alone in the forest, and nobody else is there to receive the tweet, is it just a 140 character blog?

* When I begin to talk too long, my husband smiles and says, “Talk in tweets honey, brevity”. 

* Twitter is like hitting “reply all” to the universe.

* Twitter acronym for “Typing what I’m thinking to everyone reading.”

* Twitter definition: “a short burst of inconsequential information,” like “chirps from birds.” -Jack Dorsey creator of Twitter. 

* Twitter like the chatting at the water cooler on steroids. 

* Twitter Tantrums, really?  Swapping barbs on Twitter is not a good idea.  Tiny Twitter tirade… don’t do it! 

* I may turn into an enthusiastic hashtag machine.  #hashtag #gettingtwitter #lovetwitter #Imatweeter #Imjustsaying  #helloanyoneoutthere

* Twitter is an addiction worthy of a 12 Step program.

* Hi, my name is @mommytwitter, and I’m a Twittaddict.

* You’re addicted to twitter when you tweet your partner to turn out the light, when you’re both in bed.

* Twitter is like crack when you realize Twitter should be called “Twitch” for how compulsively your fingers are at needing to keep typing something.

* I require random tweets and blog posts from random people to make it through the week.

* My tween kids think my tweets and blogs are a confetti bomb of our small embarrassments. 

* Twitter is only 140 characters? Don’t worry my editor is good at eliminating “unnecessary characters”. 

* I just use Twitter, so I can talk the goofy Twitter-speak.

* I think I’m going to have to outsource my tweeting to India- ghost tweeting.

* How many tweets can a twitter tweeter tweet if a twitter tweeter could tweet?

What are you favorite Tweets? 

When I’m not writing, running, or hanging with my family, I work.  I work a LOT.   I have worked in the sales industry forever.  I travel the country meeting clients.  So you ask, “Pam when do you have time to blog?”   It’s true that I am one of  those lucky few, or cursed few, that can exist on three or four hours of sleep a night.  That leaves a mere twenty hours a day to accomplish a lot of running, writing, mothering, wifing, friending, working, eating, showering (on some days) and tweeting.  Stop.  Wait a minute.   Back up.  You tweet? 

Yes, I Pam Laux, tweet.

 But, “why?” you ask. 

My answer on why I have now joined the millions on Twitter is how else could I follow other successful people with my same quirky mix of interests?   

At first, I did not get The Twitter.  I have to admit I was a twit when it came to tweeting.  I set up a Twitter profile and let it be.  I realized that no one was “following me”.  Even after a few weeks I had three or four people following me, but I did not know if it was proper twetiquette to “follow” them back.  That used to be called “stalking”. 

Early on I came to the conclusion that tweeting was not for me.  Clue #1: No one could find my Tweetering Profile.  Clue #2: I couldn’t remember how to find me.  Clue #3: I did not know how to write (Tweet) in 140 characters or less.  (Twitter only allows 140 characters at a time.  Most tweople will tweet their 140 characters and then direct their followers to a web site for more information.)

I let my twitter account lie dormant.  A year later, after listening to advice from fellow writers and agents that a social platform is necessary for new authors, I began to experiment more with twitting.  I really was trying to be a good Twitter netizen-but I still was not getting the hang of it.  I did, however learn to stop calling it Tweeter. 

So why do I tweet? Why should you?

In a nutshell, the main advantages of Twitter are: following, advice, news and mentors.

Following:  If you have a passion for something, people that have that same passion will want to follow you or you could follow them.  I’m a working mom that likes to write and run.  Not necessarily at the same time.  (However some of my best ideas have come while running.) A lot of my microblogs and fiction writing is for a specific group.  I write about strong female protagonists in tough, almost thriller situations.   Twitter seemed like a huge time sucker, but then it was hard to ignore that working mothers were making time to twitter and surf the blogosphere after working all day. 

From a writer’s perspective I use tweeting (or micoblogging) to help guide my followers to my blog, who then read my posts and leave comments.  Blogging is increasing in popularity as a way for people to self-publish their insights on the Web.  If someone likes the blogger’s personality and voice, they will most likely want to follow that blogger’s writing.    Hint, hint: follow my blogs. 

Advice: Twitter has become a place for tweople to reach out to others for current advice. 24/7 you can get up-to-date advice tweets about almost anything, almost anywhere.  You can get advice on a local restaurant review, a fun place to vacation, what to do with an ill pet, the score of your son’s soccer game and why there are fire trucks down the street and so on. 

News:  We live in an era  of instant information.  We want our weather, stock quotes and breaking news at our fingertips. In the Twitterverse the minute something happens it’s out there on someone’s twitter account.   Twitter has become popular because someone can see something happen right in front of them, tweet it out to their friends and followers, then these followers can RT( retweet or resend) it out to their followers, and on and on.  This allows “instance news”, often times before a news crew can respond.  The free nature of this written expression is transforming the way people, consumers, companies and journalists work together to report, filter and break the news.  Just this past week the bidding war between Ryan and Cuban for the Texas Rangers was followed minute-by-minute on Twitter.

Mentors: Twitter can also help you keep informed on your favorite hobbies, mentors and celebrities. If you are a gardener, you can follow other gardeners and get up-to-date information and daily tips from top gardener mentors. What better way to learn your hobby than from experts.  And if you need to know how to keep your Clematis recta Purpurea from flopping over from its weight and to stand upright, you can tweet to your gardening followers for help. 

If you are still not getting The Twitter, I think you could love it for the utter brilliance and goofiness, or simple professional brevity, of the Twitter community.

Twitter, Facebook, Blogging…it is changing the way we live, communicate and socialize.

To the rest of the Twitterverse I say Happy Tweets!    

Are you on Twitter?  Do you have a blog link you want to share here?  Feel free to comment.

For more information on Twitter benefits, check out Kristin Lamb’s book: We are not alone: The Writer’s Guide to Social Media.  http://whodareswinspublishing.com/Writers_Guid_Social_Media.php For information on how to set up Twitter or a Blog site visit Fun City Media;  http://funcitysocialmedia.com

I Tweet in My Sleep. Tweet. Tweet.