Fill out these questions to generate your own silly mad libs letter instantly online! (Hint: a Verb is an action. An adverb usually ends in “ly” and describes an action (like slowly). A noun is a person/place/thing. An adjective describes a person/place/thing.)
My teacher asked her students
“What would you like to be?”
The answers we came up with
Were not a shock to me.
Sam wants to hide hyenas
In other people’s pants.
And Pat will teach a werewolf
The basic moves of dance.
John will study rowing
Just like his dear old dad.
They’ll cross a chocolate river
On dinghies painted plaid.
Blake will train ten tigers
To paint with just their tails
While Todd will stack six seagulls
On top of thirty quails.
Some of these jobs might shock you
Or frighten or appall,
But I think they are normal
Because I’ve done them all.
As you probably noticed, we’ve started to write a free kid’s poem every Tuesday and online madlibs every Wednesday. Why would an indie publishing company give away their work?
First, we want to take care of our readers. How many of you have called a giant company and waited on hold just to be told you had pushed the wrong number in the menu system and would have to wait on hold again? That is everything Tasha and I hate about heartless businesses — so we’re choosing to run Glow Word Books differently. We want gratitude to be the foundation of our business. We appreciate that you took time from your busy day to read one of our books or blog entries, so our way of saying thanks to you is a free poem.
Laughter is the best medicine. It’s cliche, but my wife and I believe that most problems can be resolved with a good laugh. When you’re in better spirits, you have more energy to tackle issues that are tricky — you also have more emotional energy which means more patience. Whenever we’re annoyed, we always try to solve it first with a laugh. Hopefully our writing can help you to take on the world.
You get what you give. We believe that what goes around comes around. We want to live in a world where people share poetry, short stories, laughter and ideas. The best way to create that world is to follow your own advice.
Fill out these questions to generate your own silly mad libs letter instantly online! (Hint: a Verb is an action. An adverb usually ends in “ly” and describes an action (like slowly). A noun is a person/place/thing. An adjective describes a person/place/thing.)
Farmer Fran could use a hand
With her thousand cows.
She milks them all down in a stall
As much as each allows.
The precious cream drips in a stream
Deeper than her knee
Across the yard and passed the chard
Around her property.
This vegetation irrigation
Began when she was born
Her generation’s plantations
Only grow creamed corn.
I normally write for an hour before bed. It’s not my most productive time of day, but beggars can’t be choosers. I’m just happy to have a consistent time for books each day.
But last night my son wasn’t interested in sleeping. He thought bedtime was a fabulous opportunity to jump, finish up a few rounds of peek-a-boo and play with toy fish. You know what? He was right. Some things are more important than sleep or writing.
Why is your profession always the first thing people want to know about you?
Is it an easy conversation starter? Is it more interesting than the weather? Is work so universal that it’s the only way to bond with strangers?
Regardless of the reason, I think there is a more nefarious side about sharing your profession: make make assumptions about who you are and what you’re capable of.
My experiment with professions
When I lived abroad in New Zealand, I had a blank slate because literally nobody in the country knew who I was. That was extremely terrifying, but fabulous for experimenting with my idea of self and who I wanted to be. I have had a variety of careers in my past, so when I introduced myself to new people, I selectively mentioned a previous profession.
Technical work was fabulous for finding a place to live. I sounded responsible and respectful — but most people weren’t interested in talking further about what I did.
However, it was hard to make friends in the hostel talking about keyboards and mice so I introduced myself as a writer to them. I think people assume good story-tellers make for interesting friends.
My Professional Surprise
The biggest surprise actually came from working a retail job in New Zealand after just quitting a technical one in America. As a computer technician, I had Harvard PhDs asking me for advice because they trusted my opinion and saw me as their equal — even though I didn’t have a big-name degree. As a cashier everyone assumed I was a dumb slacker whose job would hopefully be replaced by a vending machine. I had personally made the line long to spite them and had stolen all the $5 bills so they had to get five ones instead.
What did I learn from all of this?
The first lesson I learned is that we are all people — regardless of our profession. As Simon mentioned earlier this week in my wife’s post about labeling people, we should see people as “a fellow human who happens to do a job” rather than a stereotypical, inhumane role. I don’t understand why we put so much emphasis on what we’re trained to do… it’s just training.
The second lesson I learned is to be nice to all people (even cashiers!) because they’re people. Their job is just where they’re working, not who they are. If you start talking to cashiers, you’ll realize they have hopes, dreams and aspirations… just like you…
Fill out these questions to generate your own silly mad libs letter instantly online! (Hint: a Verb is an action. An adverb usually ends in “ly” and describes an action (like slowly). A noun is a person/place/thing. An adjective describes a person/place/thing.)
Authors Steve & Natasha