Out-of-the-Box Essays: A Young-at-Heart Writer Explores the Complexities of Everyday Life with Her Out-of-the-Box Light Bulb Thoughts

By sue viders

Why do writers write these short essays?

 

Are my thoughts, ideas or random bits of observation any better than yours?

 

Will my words change the world somehow? Will they change or somehow inspire you in some way?

 

Probably not, but I do believe writers write these "pearls of wisdom" and "gems of observation" because we've been around the block a few times and want to share what we have learned—so you, the reader will have a few laughs, a few "that's exactly right" or "that's exactly what I thought" comments.

 

And so this is why I want to share my thoughts thunk while thinking with you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: sue viders
• Release date: May 10, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201267179

sue viders

Sue is the author of numerous nonfiction books. She has also written extensively for a variety of magazines and newspapers. A national columnist for many years on art marketing in The Artist’s Magazine, Sue has spoken to various groups and organizations both nationally and internationally on marketing and writing for over thirty-five years. She continues to lecture and teach writing onsite at colleges and universities as well as at national conferences. She regularly teaches online through numerous writing groups and organizations throughout the world. When she isn’t busy churning out a writing book for aspiring writers, she explores the complexities of everyday life with her “light bulb” thoughts in her essay book, Out-of-the-Box, now up on Amazon. On the drawing board is the next PICK-A-NUMBER book Finding a PLOT in this series and should be finished soon.

Book preview

Out-of-the-Box Essays: A young-at-heart writer explores

the complexities of everyday life with her

out-of-the-box light bulb thoughts

by Sue Viders

Copyright © 2021 Sue Viders

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying form without written permission of the publisher. The exception would be in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews and pages where permission is specifically granted by the publisher.

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-942-011-59-3

Cover and book design by NZ Graphics

Second Edition

A young-at-heart writer explores the complexities of everyday life with her out-of-the-box light bulb thoughts

DEDICATION

They say it takes a village to raise a child, however, in my case it took three talented friends to get this book published.

First I’d like to thank my writing buddy, Mike Jaroch, who encouraged me to take some of my newspaper columns and turn them into a collection of essays.

Nick Zelinger, a creative wizard, is responsible for the design of the cover that I love! And he did the wonderful layout and formatting for which I am forever grateful.

And finally I wish to acknowledge my editor and friend, Peggie Ireland, who not only dotted all my i’s and crossed all my t’s, but who helped me with all the little tricky problems that I had not even noticed. I also wanted to thank her for the yellow pages paragraph in the Clicks, Bricks and Catalogs essay that I had totally forgotten about. Being dyslexic I have tons of trouble with two simple words, that and which. I consistently seem to use them incorrectly. However, it is the colons and semicolons, not to mention the commas that drive me mad. I am never sure where to put them. Should I even use them?

So to anyone else thinking about writing a nonfiction book or any kind of a book, remember you cannot do it alone. A team of dedicated and talented writing friends is needed.

Sue

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1: THE WONDERS OF CREATIVITY

CHAPTER 2: DECISIONS, DECISIONS, DECISIONS

CHAPTER 3: INSIDE MY SPACE

CHAPTER 4: OUTSIDE MY SPACE

CHAPTER 5: THE POWER OF WORDS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

INTRODUCTION

Why do writers write short essays, or any kind of an essay?

Are my thoughts, ideas or random observations any better than yours?

Will my words change the world somehow? Will my words inspire you in some way?

I hope so but realistically probably not. But I do believe writers pen these pearls of wisdom and gems of observation because they’ve been around the block a few times and want to share what they have learned, so you, the reader, will have a few laughs, a few that’s right or that’s exactly what I thought moments.

As a teacher for more years than I care to count, I’ve been privileged to see many different colored light bulbs light up as my students learned to think about their ideas and problems in out-of-the-box ways. How students learn to think about situations or a personal crisis and then approach the problem in a different light is exceedingly rewarding for any teacher to observe.

The problem, of course, when trying to find a solution to a new problem, is how to reach those traditional gray cells that think let’s do it as we have always done it and gently give these older thinking cells a kick in the behind.

You need to give these gray cells a strong enough nudge

so they throw out or at least amend their conventional thinking and begin to think of alternative ways to approach life’s everyday complexities.

I know because learning to think out-of-the-box makes my day-to-day existence much more manageable and in many cases much more enjoyable.

Read on and let your gray cells get acquainted with my way of thinking.

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Chapter 1

THE WONDERS OF CREATIVITY

MAKING DREAMS COME ALIVE

PACKRATS and COLLAGES

YOUR MUSE IS ASLEEP

DYSLEXIA - A WONDERFUL GIFT

THERE ARE SHOE BOXES AND…

HOW TO NAME A COLOR

KETCHUP AND PICKLES

LICENSE PLATES

In this section I have expressed my thoughts on being creative, whether through writing, doing some kind of artwork, working on a new recipe or simply thinking up new and different ways to solve a problem that has been bothering me. This is what keeps us young and waking up each morning looking forward to the day. To stay young we need to give our gray cells something to think about, something to do. It really doesn’t matter what it is, it’s the idea that we can think about it, how we plan it out in our minds and know that once we start, we can do it.

It could be anything from designing and making some new dresses for the granddaughter’s new doll, or it could be working with wood and making those shelves the grandson needs for displaying his toys or awards. Maybe you are creating a new design to print on a sweatshirt.

Maybe you are growing a plant from a sweet potato. Or you could be trying out a new soup recipe that your daughter sent you via the internet.

The whole idea is to have something creative to do and even more importantly to think about.

MAKING DREAMS COME ALIVE

Dreams are elusive wisps of gray cells floating around in your mind. They threaten to burst forward, yet they are always lurking behind some larger, but faint-hearted and cautious cells. In a menacing tone, those cells say, No, don’t try that. It will never work.

And poof, your magnificent idea disappears. These wonderful dreams will never see daylight.

This happens all the time. It doesn’t seem to matter what the idea is. There is part of your brain that convinces you not to even start because your idea will not work.

There is only one thing that has helped me over the years to make some of my dreams come true. I must write the idea down on paper for it to come alive for me. Once I have committed it to paper, I find it easy to move forward. Maybe this strategy will work for you too!

To see the actual idea on paper does something to those cautious, even negative cells. I don’t know what or how it works. Perhaps a scientist or a psychologist can tell me. But when the idea is in front of you where you can see it, things happen.

First of all, other people can see it. This may be either good or not so great, but that is the chance you take with all beginning ideas.

Probably the biggest mistake dreamers make when pursuing their idea is that they magically believe someone, somehow, will begin to make their dream come true.

Life doesn’t work that way. It just doesn’t. To make anything happen you have to start it yourself.

If you really think your idea has merit and will work, even after others have looked at it, shaking their heads or sweetly smiling as if they think you are an idiot, start a file on the project.

Better yet, start two files: one on your computer and the other in an old-fashioned file folder. The tangible folder is where you will keep all the odds