I’ve been away for a while, working on a book. Finished yesterday-hooray! Now that I am finished and have rejoined the living :-), I am making a commitment, right here in writing, to bring you a blog three to four times a week. I expect you to hold me to it. I welcome comments. Your comment automatically enters you in a monthly drawing for a free, autographed copy of an Ann Roth book!
This morning while I enjoyed my Sunday-morning bubble bath and listened to the Sunday puzzle on NPR, Will Shortz, the New York Times puzzle editor, reviewed last week’s challenge: “Take the brand name of a popular grocery item, push two consecutive letters together without otherwise changing the name in any way, and the result will be a make of car.” The answer: Mazola. Push the o and l together and get Mazda. Clever, isn’t it? I sure didn’t figure it out.
Which got me thinking. How often do I think outside the box? Sure, I can develop fictitious towns, come up with interesting plots and create memorable characters, but is that actually thinking outside the box? I don’t think so.
My challenge for the coming week: Think outside the box. Turn “what-if” on its head and look at life from angles I’ve never even considered. I’ll report back. I’d love to hear suggestions on how to think outside the box. What do you do?
Until next time,
Ann
Great topic, Ann! I’m looking forward to reading your weekly posts. 🙂 As to thinking outside the box, I do most of that while I’m in my garden, among my plants. It’s my “sacred” place, the one where I can let any thought take root (pardon the pun) and flourish. And, yes, it’s also where I do a lot of plotting for my books–which I still consider thinking outside the box because every story needs to be fresh and unique and different from the last one I’ve written. 🙂
I love this, Mary! And it came just in time, as I’m about to go out and do some much-needed weeding in the raspberry patch.
Thanks for sharing.
Hey, Ann! This is a great idea. I’m looking forward to your posts and will try to check in to read them.
The most recent thing I’m doing to think outside the box, is I’m going to take a short trip to a college town and hanging around for a while one day this week. Though I live in a small town with limited cultural reach (um, Hello conservative Bible belt.)- the college town several miles away is chock full of a mixture of cultures and eclectic events and restaurants. It’s a melting pot of various music (high-class piano bars, irish pubs and kareoke, pottery-making coffee and tea house nooks..etc) – contrary to what one would believe, the climate there is widely acceptable to all age groups. They have ALOT of interesting characters I love to watch just walking down town 🙂 I absolutely love it. It’s also an opportunity to take myself out of my little small town box and comfort bubble.
Hope you have a great week! Looking forward to your posts! 🙂
Laurie Kozlowski
Laurie, your idea of visiting an area with a vibrant culture different from where you are now sounds wonderful! A great way to get a breath of fresh air without spending a huge amount of time or money to do it. Love this!