I have a fondness for computer-generated poetry. You can imagine my excitement when I found an app on my iPhone called "Stickgirl Poetry"

Stickgirl is an oracle who wax poetic life's problems in a haiku when you ask a question and shake your phone for an answer. This spin on the Magic 8 Ball concept is not only fun, but can create some lovely haiku, complete with fun or sometimes appropriate backgrounds. With our cosmic energy, Stickgirl and I have created some awesome haiku for Day 10 of NaPoWriMo! Some of them are oddly accurate. Click on each picture to get the full image and the question I asked.

If Stickgirl rocks your world, visit her at The World According to Stickgirl.

Hello Write Queeners, 

How many times have you misheard the lyrics to a song? 

I know that this happens to me at least once a day. I think that this brilliant line that I play over and over again is real until I want to post part of the lyrics on Facebook. Being lazy and hating dictation at times, I search for them online so I can copy and paste. When I find the song on some lyric site, that's when I find out the horrible truth: That one line, that one word, sometimes that one syllable that made the song amazing is NOT a part of the song! 

After learning what's really there, I do hear it. But my mind always wants to go back to my original assumption. It's never the same though and you will always be fighting a battle between what you hear and what you want to hear (as with many aspects of our lives!).

We don't have to let those great lines go to waste though. Back in my undergrad years in one of my creative writing courses, I was told that when this happens to us, that we can use that line in our writing. Since it isn't a part of the song we were listening to, we have originally created that line. Now it is ours to use in our poems, prose, for titles, for anything!

I have two examples of this concept for us to marvel in:

Example #1:

Jon Secada - If I Never Knew You from Disney's Pocahontas

A timeless classic from my childhood, I thought this song was all types of amazing (still do!) The line that made me feel like my world was falling apart into sweet ecstasy was this (in bold):

Beautiful, isn't it? Such sadness, such beauty...and it was absolutely the wrong lyric. The correct lyrics are:

Still nice, but for me, it wasn't the same. There was no devastating beauty in it. No power! I was crushed when I realized what it really was. I have never been able to listen to the song the same way again. My brain is always struggling to bring back that line. SIGH!!!

Example #2:

Here is something a little more contemporary for my pop music lovers. 

Justin Timberlake - Strawberry Bubblegum

I am in love with Justin's new album The 20/20 Experience! One of my tracks is Strawberry Bubblegum. Ironically, I experienced another misheard mishap while I was formulating this post. Here's what I heard:

Hot line, isn't it? Don't ever change your faith cause I love the taste. That is a mind explosion! But of course, I knew that couldn't be right. So off to find the correct lyrics and look, I was wrong: 

Makes more sense huh?

These mishaps actually have a name. It is called Mondegreen, as define by its definition on Wikipedia:

Giving a name to this makes me feel less crazy. It also gives me an opportunity to come up with a challenge for my readers. 

Write Queeners, I want you to find your mondegreen and write a mondegreen poem! It can be any length. Here's a draft of one I wrote using (surprise, surprise) one of the examples of a mondegreen that I showed you earlier:

Knees bruised from 
worshiping you 
from thigh to waist.
Don't ever change 
your faith 
cause I love the taste.
Tilt back on 
your palms while I pray
that my thirst will be 
quenched
without delay.

Eh, I haven't written a poem in a while so excuse that draft! But you guys get the idea. Share your mondegreen poems with me in the comments section (or leave a link to where I can find it!).

There are many writers and artists that I admire. Each one inspires me to be bigger and better One of my all-time favorite writers who I would love to be when I grow up (in a writer's sense of course) is Miss Erica "RivaFlowz" Buddington. Her writing knocks the wind out of your heart. It's that powerful. Every time she posts a link from rivaflowz.com on my Facebook wall, I know I'm in for a good read. 

Through her blog posts, Riva has helped me see what it really means to be a writer in their 20's, typing away at a keyboard to get to their dreams. Now she needs some help. Riva has the opportunity to go to Callaloo Writing Workshop AND get her book edited by a great editor. She is currently fundraising at Indiegogo. Whether it's by spreading the word or contributing to her fund, I am asking my readers (I know you guys are out there somewhere!) to help out. I'm already doing both because I believe in her dream as much as I believe in my own. If I can't take my opportunities yet, I want to help someone else take theirs. So without further ado, here are the links that will help her get closer to her dream:

Share on it Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, whatever you may have. If you have a blog, do a write up about it. Share this blog post if you want. Just SPREAD THE WORD pretty please, my Write Queeners. If you can contribute, even better. 

As she always does, Riva has opened up my eyes to something else: Indiegogo. I think I will be looking into starting my own fundraiser for my projects ;)

Have a great Sunday Write Queeners!


And Riva - I hope this helps!

Write Queeners,

I am stubborn. I know people who are perfectly capable of designing logos, but being the do-it-myself type of gal, I had to make one myself. Which means a couple of years without a logo. I wanted something simple, yet funky. I have a million ideas and not enough time (or expert skill, I'll admit!) to play on Photoshop. But I finally found time today! After waking up at 6AM to find myself shivering, yet sweating after a night with a terrible headache, I had to call out of work. The extra few hours of sleep did help sort out things and I had at least enough brain power to go on Photoshop (if you knew my occupation, you would see why Photoshop is considered kids play).

Well after hours of frustrating myself with my own logo and a friend's logo, I finally finished my own with the help of my boyfriend (the best cure all after feeling under the weather). Now the final result is on top of my page, but I figured that a larger version was in order:

What do you think guys? Yay or Nay? I can always make (or have someone) make another. For now, after not having one, I think this is pretty dandy. But wait, there is more! I actually made another logo! Check this out:

Eh, that's nothing crazy, but I do think it's cute. What do you think? Hmm, maybe we should do a poll! Yes...we will do a poll. Check out the contenders side by side and tell me what you think.

If you want to skip the poll, you can always leave a comment on the posts!

This sickster must get to bed, but I hope that I might get to wake up to some poll results to make my day.

Good night ya'll!

Before anyone says anything...I know I have to post the rest of my 30/30 stuff up. Don't worry, it will be here by the end of the week. Today, however, is a special occasion. Today I am helping Fiona Robyn celebrate the beautiful things in life, inspired by her new novel "The Most Beautiful Thing".

For today, Tuesday April 24, the Kindle version of the book is being offered for free. You don't need a Kindle to read it, just download the app on your phone or PC. You can also join a slew of bloggers like myself for the "My Most Beautiful Thing" Blogsplash. It's nothing complicated, just tell the world about your most beautiful thing through writing, photos, video...whatever way you want!

Since I am in the middle of the 30/30 challenge, I am going to write a prose poem for my most beautiful thing.