Tuesday, September 06, 2005

This post is as bad as, like, whatever.

I was pondering Spinning Girl's post from this morning, and I think for me, I really want to try to write well someday. I do have a specific goal/reason for this, which I may go into detail someday (You know I will eventually), but for now, let's leave it at "I want to be a decent writer."

In the midst of ponderance, I remembered a friend sending me the following list of actual analogies used in high school essays. I always go back and read these when I have writer's block, or when I write something really bad and realize it .

My two favorites are in bold.
The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.
McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty Bag filled with vegetable soup.
From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and "Jeopardy" comes on at 7 p.m. instead of 7:30.
Her hair glistened in the rain like nose hair after a sneeze.
Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center.
Bob was as perplexed as a hacker who means to access T:flw.quid55328.com\aaakk/ch@ung but gets T:\flw.quidaaakk/ch@ung by mistake.
Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree.
The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
Her date was pleasant enough, but she knew that if her life was a movie this guy would be buried in the credits as something like "Second Tall Man."
Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.
The politician was gone but unnoticed, like the period after the Dr. on a Dr Pepper can.
They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.
John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
The thunder was ominous-sounding, much like the sound of a thin sheet of metal being shaken backstage during the storm scene in a play.
His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
The red brick wall was the color of a brick-red Crayola crayon.
He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

8 comments:

Bobby said...

Brooksie, thanks. I think it may be more the subject matter I want to write about that's causing me issues, than my actual writing ability. But who knows?

babyjewels said...

Yum, maggots in hot grease. Oh, that brings me back.

DaMasta said...

I work as hard as a receptionist that had actual job duties would.

LBseahag said...

Fascinating...reading those makes you feel like you are there..
I'm want to sneeze now, to show everyone how healthy my hair is..

go write a novel...I am sure Oprah would like you, too!

kris said...

I like the Kerrigan one! :)

Sherri Sanders said...

I love the 'underpants in the dryer without clingfree' comment! :)

When you get the inspiration to write, go for it, don't wait until you have time. I always end up waiting, and then the moments gone. You'll surprise yourself.

Serena said...

LOL! I needed that like a gamer who, having played for the last 24 hours straight, needs to change is dried, urine-soaked underwear that has begun to chaffe.

Kristi said...

Yes! That is a great way to describe that strange feeling you get when you head west and the tv shows are on at weird times. It was surreal and eerie. Right on!


Love the solar eclipse one too!