A THOUSAND WORDS ABOUT NOTHING?

By Carrie Hulce

So many times we all feel like we have writer's block. I know I have been there more times than I can count.

I have to admit, I have tried different techniques. Some work, some of them don’t, which, is unfortunate, but it does happen.

Not too long ago I got to thinking to myself. “I have nothing to write about.” I wanted to smack myself. There is always something to write about. Then I thought, “But what?” I looked around my dining room, then looked around my living room. I saw my glasses laying on a magazine I had been reading through. It came to me. I can write about “nothing.”

I know now you probably think I’m crazy, but nothing is actually something. Here is an example of what to do.

• First look around the room you are in, pick an object example: remote control to the television, the cup of warm coffee you might be drinking.

• Grab a pad of paper and a pen/pencil. Write down things about the remote example: the color, how many buttons it has, what company is it made by, does it belong specifically to your television or one of the many movie players you have, or is it a universal remote. How long have you had the remote?

• Now branch out from there, do research on that particular object, find out when it was invented, find out who the inventor was.

By now you are probably laughing, but it works. You can take anything and write about it. It just takes time.

When you want to be a writer, you need to take the time and make the time to write. It doesn’t matter if you feel you don’t have anything to write about. Write about “nothing” and you will find that there is actually something there.

I have found this exercise to work rather well. I have found several story ideas develop just in an apple.

I hope that for all of our wonderful writers out there, that this technique helps for each of you.

Have fun writing about “Nothing.” You will see, you have something to do.

1,000 WORDS ABOUT NOTHING!
AN APPLE

They say: “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” But, does it really?

How do we know that statement to be true. Has it been proven? Have there been a number of people in the world asked to eat an apple a day? What kind of apple? Or is it any kind of apple, to make sure that the person has some variety.

Apples are so juicy and have great flavor. They make wonderful pies, are versatile in most dishes, like stuffing, salads, stuffed in poultry or other meats. Ever wonder if there was a cook book put out just about apples? How many different cook books?

Over the years, I have eaten my fill of apples and still do. Red, Green, Crab, Golden, Macintosh, Cortland, Red Delicious, Granny Smith. The names for different types of apples seem to be endless; I’m sure a researcher spent many years gathering up tons of information on each apple.

I can remember sitting up in a crab apple tree hiding from my cousins, waiting to hit them with the hard unripe ones. Or lying on a large branch, several of the crab apples lying on my belly waiting for me to eat their tart sour skin. Yum! Oh, the tummy ache afterwards. Then vowing never again to eat another crab apple, but to do it again the following visit to my grandparents’ home.

My worst experience with an apple, picking one off of a tree in an orchard, looking at it not seeing a problem, how perfect the apple looked. Then, I took a huge bite, juice spilling down my chin, taking another look at the apple, seeing half of a warm wiggling towards me. YUCK! Screaming and dropping the apple, crying to my grandmother how horrible I was starting to feel, because I ate a worm.

How about baking that first apple pie ever? First preparing the crust, peeling several apples of different types, slicing them carefully so that each slice looked to be the same size as the next, layering the slices inside the crust, then sprinkling each layer with cinnamon and sugar. A little lemon juice to help maintain the brilliant color of the meat of the apple. How lovely. Remembering how tired I felt after completing that first pie. Presenting the pie to my new husband, showing him how well I could cook. Boy, did I feel accomplished then. To laugh now, because he does ninety-five percent of all the baking in our home.

The most painful memory of all and one that I will remember for all times, sharing a slice of pie with my grandfather a few days before he died. How we joked about Christmas, how we made plans on where everyone would stay, when we came back for the holiday to visit. The hot cocoa that he made special, spiced with cinnamon and apple sauce. I’ll have you know, I thought he was crazy at first when I watched him drop that spoonful in, but it was so good. I couldn’t believe it. Chocolate apple cocoa, yum. Oh, the pain he was in, how I wished I could make him feel better. How I wished I could take away all of his stresses and worries so that he and my grandmother could still be together. How I wish that day would have never ended. Only to give him one more hug, one more kiss on the cheek, one more joke to tell, or a walk down the street.

Apples are the fruit of life, according to most, and it is also the fruit of knowledge.

Gosh, how about making apple sauce for the first time? I burned it to the pan, how messy that was. All the sugar that I added to it, that I didn’t need to. My dad ate it with a smile, said it was good. I couldn’t believe how nice he was to lie to me. I knew how bad it tasted, I ate some myself.

Food fight, apple sauce being flung by spoons around the cafeteria at my son’s school. He was only in pre-school, but, still what a mess they all made. The kids were mad that we made them clean it all up. The teachers and parents got together later, only for a good laugh, seeing their expressions when they all got caught having such a good time, flinging their apple sauce at one another.

Here is another interesting thought. How about the saying: “The apple of my eye.” Gosh, that goes way back. I wonder how often that got said by people. When did it stop being used as a phrase? How many people still use it today? Can you imagine your eyes being filled with apples? That must be painful. I wonder are they red or green apples, or did you get yellow ones in your eye.

Apple flavored sausages with cheese in them too. I tried them, I don’t think I even tasted the apple. I remembered tasting the cheese and the spices though. I wonder if the creator may have just been pulling our legs. Or if the sausage I got just didn’t have any apple in it after all. Shouldn’t the maker, check to make sure those sausages had plenty of apple in each one for people to taste.

Apple Cider vinegar, is great for salads, and hey I heard it is great for weight loss too. I’ve seen apple cider vinegar tablets or how about the special bottles in the health departments of most stores. I would think that must taste awful after a while though. I bet after a while you would get tired of it and not want to do that as your diet any more. I know that Apple Cider is also great to use in marinades, it tenderizes meat very well.

*** Above is just an example of how to write 1,000 words about nothing. As you can see, each paragraph is about apples in some way. But when you look at it as a whole, you will find several ideas for stories.

Make sure if you use this exercise, you try to get as close as you can to 1,000 words. Don’t worry about your sentence structure or misspelled words. The important thing is to try and come up with different ideas for your base subject, in this case being the Apple.

Happy Writing!- Carrie Hulce