Anyone can write a book ~ What are you waiting for?

Memories and attitude make us uniquely human.

Writing them down is what sets us apart as individuals. ~ LinDee Rochelle

Were you teased as a youngster for writing in your “diary” or keeping a “journal”? Did your little brother break the lock and read it? (Like mine did.) Did you dig out your old ones recently, and think, wow, I had some great ideas … maybe I can update them …?

Writing is often one of those “love / hate” human practices. I truly believe it’s an innate trait in order to love it. While you may be in the class that fairly abhors it, you can make it work to your advantage – and you might find you can tolerate the process to express yourself, if not outright learn to enjoy it.

Those who kept the once-ubiquitous diary or journal have a head start, for sure. But what did we write? Memories and attitudes. 

It was interesting research, reading the various “expert” opinions about any differences between a diary and a journal. 

“When I was a kid” (I know young’uns hate that preface), the perceived (pre-teen) notion of a diary was something giggly girls kept about their inane daily experiences, in gushy, blushing prose. A journal was a scientist’s or other professional’s experimental log or recording of a journey (think Captain Kirk’s Star Trek logs); and young guys simply didn’t write. (You realize, I hope, this is tongue-in-cheek, with a chuckle. But I'm serious about your book.)

There is a Season ... turn, turn, turn ...

Mmmmm, I can almost smell the pumpkin drifting on a light summer breeze. 

Oh ... wait ... of course I can – they're already moldering at the store!

Yes, once again, commercialism jumps the gun – or rather points it at us and says, “Buy! Buy now! Before it’s too late!” Sigh. (And I mean "points it at us" in the most benign way – that I even need to explain it provokes another heavy sigh.)

So the stores roll the pumpkins into the aisles halfway through summer, when absolutely NO ONE wants to think about Halloween or Thanksgiving.

Some retailers barely acknowledge those two esteemed holidays, throwing us directly into Santa’s path for Christmas. Agh!!

Well, now, we finally hit the “Sacred first day of Consumerism” – the Fall Equinox. I say, let’s stop to smell the sweet, sticky scent of pumpkin pies and enjoy the short season of Fall, before fall-ing prey to visions of candy canes dancing in our heads.

What are PenQuips?

New PFP Feature: PenQuips!

Let me introduce you to Penchant for Penning's fun new "PenQuips"!

Definition: A PenQuip™ is 1) a picture and heading combination appropriate to the theme of a brief text anomaly quoted from the Internet; or,

2) a picture and heading combination with your own amazing, brief text of wit, opinion, fact, or (gasp!) wisdom.

PenQuips™ are my eccentric way of exploiting dumb public comments that illustrate society’s current lack of intelligent thought. Sigh … we have not progressed much past the Dark Ages. Yes, I fear we are headed in the same direction as that of the Roman Empire.

While we could expound at length about the whys and wherefores of modern society’s decline, let’s face it. Humanity has never been particularly peaceful and in my humble opinion, wars are just plain dumb.

Bottom line, we are ruled by Greed, Money, Power, Sex, and Violence. Not always in that order. And each category has its own set of dumb. So we have an infinity of fodder to fossilize in PenQuips.

How I began PenQuips: The Dumbing-Down of America ...

Danger! 3rd Party Data Sharing Threatens Little Red Riding Hood!

We may share your personal information …

In the war over our privacy rights, many people fail to remember that companies are not blindfolded superficial entities. They can be hundreds, thousands, to tens of thousands people deep.

No, businesses do not simply handle your information in the manner prescribed through their verbose privacy policies. And people are the bane of privacy rights.

Nothing about our privacy is simple, and company policies are anything but user friendly. Intended to explain the companies’ responsibility of use and ultimately relieve them of misuse, privacy policies are akin to the danger of a wolf in sheep’s clothing – and we are Little Red Riding Hood.

When Did We Become a “Snot” Society?

Although the title may mislead you, this is not an article lamenting the ever-growing gap between the haves and have-nots of our society … though that deserves a diatribe, as well.

No, take note, future and prolific writers, today we are examining two of my defining moments in proper grammar – or should I say lack of – in this so-called “modern” world.

When I was a kid – don’t you hate that intro? But seriously, as an elementary student of yesteryear, certain experiences forever changed my use of a couple of words / phrases. Namely: “warsh” and “it’s not.”

The first one is obvious … when speaking, Minnesotans and other Midwesterners often throw an “r” into perfectly-spelled words. Oh, they don’t write it that way, but that “Fargo-ish” colloquial speech insists they “warshed” their clothes or plan to go “warsh” their car.

Change is in the Air ...

Hello! Thank you for visiting PenchantForPenning.com. We have a new home which is always exciting. So let's celebrate!

But before we do, we'll have a learning curve and need time to settle in ... sigh ... please bear with me as I establish our fresh new site on a different system and hopefully make it better than ever!

The following information also pertains to:

     – BlastFromYourPast.net
     – 39AndHoldingClub.com
     – WomenWritersWorldwide.com

No, you are not in the wrong place. Yes, things, they are a-changin’. One thing that is constant, is change, right?

And EVERYTHING is ch-ch-ch-changing for me this year, including the moving and upgrading of my websites.

I am undertaking a monumental job – rebuilding ALL of my websites – at the same time. Call me crazy (and many do), but when my last webhost company’s servers crashed for five days, I had to take matters into my own non-techie hands. 

If you were looking for something specific, want to check my schedule for an appearance, or excited to chat about publishing your book - need an editing quote? - feel free to contact me via email or phone (in California), 858-292-5288.

Otherwise, look for this site to be rebuilt (new, fun, fresh!) asap. Have suggestions? Tell me! I hope you’ll return and enjoy our achievements in change.