Sharon Wildwind
Last month, I began a short series of merit badges for writers. If you missed that blog first time around, click here for another chance to read it. After Sandra mentioned that readers need badges, too, I’ve expanded it to merit badges for writers and readers This week there’s is one of each.
The first one will never be much fun to earn, but like all first aid, some days you'll need it.
Writers' Merit Badge #2: First Aid For Writers
Not for ordinary disasters. This the badge for those worst days of days. Your publisher just declared bankruptcy. The agent you love sent you an e-mail saying she’s seriously ill. Real life has dealt you such a blow that you’re not sure you’ll ever be able to write again.
Stop.
Sit down.
Breathe slowly and steadily.
You are a part of a strong writers’ community. Trust us. We will be there to help.
Here our first badge for readers.
Readers' Badge #1: Extreme Reader
Award yourself this merit badge when you have completed at least 4 of the suggested requirements listed below.Someone has said to you at least once, “Turn off that light and go to sleep. Don’t make me come in there.”
You finished a book sitting in the bathroom because you didn’t want the light to bother a significant other.
You own more than one book light. [I think our household’s current count is 7, but I could probably lay my hands on only 3.]
You left clothes home in order to take more books on vacation.
Your TBR (to-be-read) pile doubles as a piece of furniture.
You’ve left a bookstore or library thinking your collection is more extensive, and better organized.
The first thing you do when moving to a new town is to find the library. Then you worry about non-essentials like schools, grocery stores, gas stations, and fire, police, and ambulance.
The first gift you buy for a newborn is a book.
When the clerk asks for your debit card, you automatically hand them your library card because it’s the most accessible one in your wallet.
You can read a book’s bar-coded ISBN number faster than the scanner can.
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Quote for the week:
Books are like lobster shells. We surround ourselves with them, then we grow out of them and leave them behind, as evidence of our earlier stages of development.
~Dorothy L. Sayers, mystery writer