The No-Fail Way to Make Me Roll My Eyes

Miss Parks at Madison Sq. (LOC)
What makes me roll my eyes, pull out my hair, and make me want to scream? The twenty-something females who insist on beginning and ending every sentence with the word "like".

Out of boredom one day on the train, I counted the number of times the dreaded word was used in a conversation beween two of these likers. During the twenty minute trip, there were thirty-six likes for one and an astounding forty-two for the other. This did not include the ums and the you knows that were used in conjuncion with likes.

Perhaps it is my past life as an educator in the English language arts, or my current profession as a writer, but such poor speaking skills make me wonder where the great orators of future generations will come from. Will a Senator one day be heard saying on CNN: "Um, you know, like, we really need this bill passed for the good of the like whole country."?

Seriously, if you need a moment to gather your thoughts before making your next statement, try silence. It will definitely give the impression of some intelligence rather than like-like-like-liking your way through life.

The Beginning of My Memoir

Beauty, according to Disney

ONCE UPON A TIME ...

Now there's a good start for my memoirs. But seriously, it was once upon a time when a little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes (does it sound like a Disney movie yet?) grew up in the baddest part of Brooklyn.

Determined to fit in, I oftentimes strayed off the straight and narrow path (at least once a week, accroding to the number of detention slips I got in school). Still, she had a dream.

Hidden away under my bed were at last a dozen marble composition books, and each of them were filled with short stories. Some were the stories I handed in for homework for English class to please the teacher I hated the most (which was fair because she hated me right back). Barely readable on homework looseleaf but charming works of art from a young girl's mind when she didn't have to worry about margins and grammar.

Fast forward to the last chapter of my memoir. Well, it can't be the last chapter, really, because there's still a lot of living left for me to do. And what will I be doing in the years to come? Still writing (check out my latest novel, Once Upon a Moscow Night, if you like a good love story) and watch for my newest creation coming out this fall.

So, you want to know a little about my family and I have only three words with which to describe them? Only three, huh? That will be a tought one, but here goes ...

Fun-loving (is that one word?)
They're Irish, need I say more.

Quirky
Every family has it's own unique way of doing things and unique characters to do them. My family seems to have more than it's share of characters -- but I love them all anyway. That goes for the extended family of in-laws as well!

Loyal
We may argue vehemently amongst ourselves, but just let someone outside the family say something against one of us and see how fast the United Front of McGuinness stands together. The old addage that blood is thicker than water was never more true than around our house.

Help, I Have No Internet!

Writer's Digest Book Shipment

Could I live without the internet fir a month?

A month, or even two, without the internet would give me the chance to do some seriously uninterrupted writing and meet my deadlines with time to spare. Not that I don't work well under pressure; sometimes I thrive on it and get some of my best ideas because of it, but it would be nice to do things at a more leisurely pace once in a while.

Even at the most frenetic pace, however, if you have a story that is living inside your heart that needs to be told, it will come out. Perhaps not in the correct order (I've been known to write the end of a story first and work backwards on occasion) but it will eventually wind up on paper. I've worked with young writers who struggle to get every word perfect the first time and then become frustrated when they lose a thought because of this strive for perfection. Hey, that's what the editing process is all about!

But I digress. Could I live without the internet for a month? Mostly definitely yes! The question is, can you?