Weekend Assignment #316: National Poetry Month

Note: This is only the third assignment in the new home of the Weekend Assignment, so be sure to let us know if this is your first time playing, so we can give you a proper welcome! :) Now, onto this week's assignment...

Weekend Assignment #316: National Poetry Month NOW CLOSED!

As April wraps up, let's not let it get away without celebrating National Poetry Month. For this assignment, please share with us something about poetry. Tell us about your favorite poet, or quote us a few lines of your favorite poem, or if poetry doesn't happen to be something you enjoy, tell us why!

Extra Credit: Write a Haiku!

Here are the general guidelines for participating:

**1. Please post your response no later than than the deadline day and time given in each week's original assignment entry. You can do this either in a blog entry of your own or in the comments section of the assignment entry.

2. Please mention the Weekend Assignment in your blog post, and include a link back to the original entry. Using one of the logos shown here is encouraged but not mandatory.

3. Please come back here after you've posted, and leave a link to your entry in the comments to the assignment. Please post the URL itself rather than a live link.

4. Visiting other participants' entries is strongly encouraged!

5. We're always looking for topic ideas. Please see the "Teacher's Lounge" page for details. If we use your idea, you will be credited as that week's "guest professor."

6. We reserve the right to remove rude or unpleasant comments (not to mention comment spam), and to leave entries off the linking list if the person has been rude or unpleasant, or fails to mention the Weekend Assignment in the entry.

** This assignment closes at 9:00 PM, EST, next Wednesday. No submissions will be accepted after that time.

Here are your responses to last week's W.A. #315: The Thief Of Time (04/22/10)

Carly...

"I am okay with how I time manage things, and for the most part I manage to do all I would like to do, but there is an exception... time with Alan."

Anne...
(New Participant)

"Two words: The Internet. I cannot count how many nights I have said I was going to finish a book, or start watching those back episodes of Chuck, or go to sleep early and ended up spending four hours online."

Sandrine...

"But if time were flexible, what you I like to have more time for? That's a easy one: sleep."

Kaitlyn...

"It finally hit me. There is one activity that takes up more time than anything else, I think. I do too much of it. I often try to put it off, but I have to give in eventually. Then when I do, I don’t want to stop, especially since the cats love to join me!"

Stephen...

"What would I do with the extra time, if I had it? Ideally, two things. Of course, I’d want to spend time writing. As it is, I don’t have much time for that at all. If I could pencil in an hour a day each week, that would really boost my story-writing productivity. The second thing is also an easy one. Spending time with my family, especially to be more helpful around the house."

Karen...

"I need more sleep. Nothing new there, except that the sleep schedule is as skewed as it's ever been, and insomnia gets in the way or fixing it. But I'm working on it."

Julie...

"I'm afraid this is going to be a fairly mundane answer. I've been so busy with one thing and another that there's no one thing in particular that saps my time."

Greenman 23...
(New Participant)

"...But even then, I’m doing the one thing I waste time with the most: Catastrophizing."

Tommyspoon...

"We are all busy. We all have a million things to do and (seemingly) not enough time to get them all done. We all say at some point: "I wish I had more hours in the day!"




Interesting responses to Karen's assignment! It seems we need a little less computer and a little more sleep! LOL :) Well done everyone!

-Carly

Weekend Assignment #315: The Thief of Time

NOW CLOSED!

Hi, everyone! It's time for our next Weekend Assignment. This one is inspired by some of your responses to Weekend Assignment #314: Summer Reading. Several people complained that they don't have as much time to read as they'd like. Why is that? Let's find out!

Weekend Assignment #315: It seems that we're all too busy these days to get around to everything we'd like to do, even if we had the money and means to do them. Is there a particular activity that takes up far too much of your time, and thus prevents you from getting around to other things?

Extra Credit: What is the #1 activity you wish you had more time for?

To play along with our Weekend Assignment, just write about the above topic in your own blog, and remember to include a link back here. Then leave a link to your entry in the comments below. (We also accept responses posted directly to the comments thread.) Please see our How to Play entry for details. The deadline for this assignment is Wednesday, April 28th at 6 PM PDT. Be sure to check back here on Thursday, April 29th for a roundup of the week's responses, and to see the new Assignment.

For Weekend Assignment #314: Summer Reading, Carly asked what books or genres we plan to read this summer. Thanks to John Scalzi's plug in Whatever and the new blog, we got a bumper crop of responses. Click on each person's name to read the full entry:

Karen said...

My reading - of novels, anyway - tends to happen in fits and spurts. From time to time I pull a book off a shelf, one that I may or may not have read before. Sometimes I read a chapter or three (or more) only to lose interest, and leave it on my bedside table until it's either nice and dusty or makes its way to the floor. Or both. Other times, I get so involved in the thing that one book is not enough. Why read just 700 pages of Harry Potter when I can read several thousand? Yes, it takes a while, but that just means a longer period of enjoyment.

Sherrie said...

As for my summer reading plans...............it could be anything from a cozy murder mystery to a science fiction to a fantasy to a novel. I can read just about anything. I do lots of reading and am also doing lots of reading challenges at my book blog, Just Books.

Carly said...

A couple months ago, a big brown truck pulled up in my driveway, inside of it were dozens of boxes containing all kinds of things. I imagine there were vacuums, and toys, and probably music, all wonderful things, but my box contained books! I LOVE reading, but haven't indulged in it for a while. Because of the forced furloughs, some luxuries and hobbies had to be eliminated. Purchasing new books was one of them. Fortunately, we received a decent tax return this year, and we will be okay again until at least the end of the fiscal year. That might bring it's own bag of horrors, but I will have a nice diversion by way of my new books.

Duane said...

My only hard and fast rule is that my next book is always completely different from what I'm reading now. To illustrate: I've been slowly (very slowly) working my way through the bibliography of Charles Dickens, and at this moment I'm about 120 pages into Great Expectations. Before that, there was (working backwards) a quick read about the history of NASCAR; The Black Ice by Michael Connelly, a police procedural thriller/mystery; Mila 18 by Leon Uris, a great piece of historical fiction; The Colorado Kid by Stephen King, an atypical King work -- more unsolved mystery than horror; and The Barrens and Others by F. Paul Wilson, a book of mostly horror short stories.

New participant Sandrine said...

Actually, I ordered some books from Betterworld books specifically for the summer. I ordered a guide book to Florence. Yes! I'm going to Prato, just outside Florence, in August, all by myself. I'll have two plane journeys and 6 whole days there with no children to worry about. Ok, I probably won't be doing that much reading, as it's a conference, and also, I'll be wanting to look around a bit. But still. I've ordered books. I ordered books I've already read, many times, just because it was Florence. So I ordered A Room with a view. And Where Angels Fear to Tread. And Howards End. (Nothing to do with Florence but I quite fancied re-reading it and it just so happens I didn't bring any of my E.M.Forster books to Turkey with me. But let's face it, by the time the books are out of the box I'll be half way through them. So maybe I need something more substantial.

New participant Stephen said...

Actually, it’s kind of sad to admit what I’m excited about: I’m excited about finishing The Gathering Storm over the summer. I say it’s sad because I got this book as a gift from Dear Wife over Christmas 2009 (Thank You Dear Wife!), and I’ve been reading it ever since then. That’s right: I’ve been reading this book for nearly four months! What has happened to me? When I was a younger man, and still in either High School or College, I used to be able to devour one of the “Wheel of Time” books in a matter of a couple of weeks. I’ll tell you what didn’t happen: it’s not that the book is boring. It’s been an enjoyable read so far (I’m on chapter 20), especially when the book has focused on Egwene.

New participant Kaitlyn said...

To be perfectly honest, I’ve never quite understood the concept of “summer reading.” I decide what to read in the summer, basically, by what’s next on my list of unread books (or what I’m feeling a real urge to reread)–the same as I do every season. I’m trying to remember what I brought to read the last time I was at the beach (which was actually during the autumn). There was a book of short stories–maybe short stories by women authors?–that I actually left at the house because I didn’t care for it. Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, which I was expecting for some reason to be dry and slow but was both easy to read and laugh-out-loud funny, so I guess that was appropriate beach reading.

Mike said...

I'm pretty much a Sci-Fi and horror reader. I don't really stray from those two genres very often. A lot of that is out of fear of wasting my time. There is nothing worse, to me, buying a book and hating it from the start. Well, except maybe hating a book halfway through and getting pissed off at the end. That happened to me very recently by an author I normally like. I won't name him because this is a rare occurrence. But, if it happens again, watch out!

Florinda said in comments...

I don't have a post for this assignment - and I'm a book blogger, so how wrong is THAT? But truthfully, my reading habits don't change much with the seasons. This summer, I'll be reading a mix of general fiction, memoirs, and books that qualify for a couple of the reading challenges I'm doing, and I'll be posting reviews of them all on my blog. It's just my thing :-). I may be reading more e-books, though, since I'll be traveling a fair amount and they're so much easier to pack!

New participant "tommyspoon" said...

When the air heats up and gets heavy with humidity, my brain turns to mush. I slowly put away the biographies and histories and heavyweight fiction that I normally relish. And then out comes the thrillers and the horrors and other pulpy stuff that makes it onto the NYT Best Selling Paperback list. I used to be ashamed of this phenomenon, but have come to embrace it as I have grown older. Even my late Father enjoyed a literary "amuse bouche" from time to time. Nothing wrong with a little brain candy!

A big welcome to our new participants, Sandrine, Stephen, Kaitlyn and "tommyspoon"! We hope you'll stick around. Thanks to everyone who played along this week. We hope to hear from you again soon!

I'd also like to thank John Ottinger, who left a suggestion in our Teachers' Lounge thread for a future Weekend Assignment. Please keep the suggestions coming, folks. You may well see your topic idea in these pages sometime soon, and find yourself lauded as the weeks "guest professor."

Happy writing!

Karen

Weekend Assignment #314: Summer Reading

Welcome to the first assignment, in the new home of the Weekend Assignment!

Weekend Assignment #314: Summer Reading (NOW CLOSED)

Okay, yes, I know, it's still spring, but this is when I begin thinking about what kind of summer reading I might like to have on hand for those too-hot-to-clean days of summer. So, for this week's assignment, I want you to share with us the kind of summer reading you look forward to the most. Sci-fi? Horror? Political Thrillers? Romance? It's all good. Now, tell me more!

Extra Credit: Okay writers, get to work! Write me the opening paragraph, just (1) paragraph of a summer read you would like write yourself. Again, any genre works fine, have fun with it!


Here are the general guidelines for participating:

**1. Please post your response no later than than the deadline day and time given in each week's original assignment entry. You can do this either in a blog entry of your own or in the comments section of the assignment entry.

2. Please mention the Weekend Assignment in your blog post, and include a link back to the original entry. Using one of the logos shown here is encouraged but not mandatory.

3. Please come back here after you've posted, and leave a link to your entry in the comments to the assignment. Please post the URL itself rather than a live link.

4. Visiting other participants' entries is strongly encouraged!

5. We're always looking for topic ideas. Please see the "Teacher's Lounge" page for details. If we use your idea, you will be credited as that week's "guest professor."

6. We reserve the right to remove rude or unpleasant comments (not to mention comment spam), and to leave entries off the linking list if the person has been rude or unpleasant, or fails to mention the Weekend Assignment in the entry.

** This assignment closes at 9:00 PM, EST, next Wednesday. No submissions will be accepted after that time.


-Carly

The Weekend Assignment

Welcome! You've found the Weekend Assignment blog, the new home of the Weekend Assignment writing prompt. In case you're unfamiliar with the meme, here's a quick intro:

The Weekend Assignment is a weekly writing prompt, created to give bloggers something fun to write about over the weekend. Founded by John Scalzi in April 2004 for his AOL Journal By the Way, it was bequeathed to me, Karen Blocher, when Scalzi's contract with AOL ended in 2007. Since February, 2010, I've shared hosting duties for this meme with Carly of Ellipsis. Starting in April 2010, new Assignments will be posted on this dedicated blog so everyone can find them easily.

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The Weekend Assignment blog is now your one stop for all of the following:

• Find out what the current Weekend Assignment is, in the same place every week.
• Find out how to join in and play along.
• Help us find and promote your Weekend Assignment entries by leaving your links, just as we do on the Round Robin Photo Challenges blog.
• Find the latest posts by all Weekend Assignment participants (I like to call them "Weekenders,") right on the sidebar.
• Explore past Weekend Assignments from earlier this year, from a handy list on the sidebar.
• Post your own Weekend Assignment ideas, and be one of our "guest professors."
• Download the Weekend Assignment graphic in a range of sizes, to use in your own blog.

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Here are the general guidelines for participating:

1. Please post your response no later than than the deadline day and time given in each week's original assignment entry. You can do this either in a blog entry of your own or in the comments section of the assignment entry.

2. Please mention the Weekend Assignment in your blog post, and include a link back to the original entry. Using one of the logos shown here is encouraged but not mandatory.

3. Please come back here after you've posted, and leave a link to your entry in the comments to the assignment. Please post the URL itself rather than a live link.

4. Visiting other participants' entries is strongly encouraged!

5. We're always looking for topic ideas. Please see the "Teacher's Lounge" page for details. If we use your idea, you will be credited as that week's "guest professor."

6. We reserve the right to remove rude or unpleasant comments (not to mention comment spam), and to leave entries off the linking list if the person has been rude or unpleasant, or fails to mention the Weekend Assignment in the entry.

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Those are the basics! Feel free to download the graphic, explore our standing "How to Play" and "Teacher's Lounge" pages, and check out the blogs of our Weekenders on the sidebar. Then check back here this Thursday for this blog's first new Assignment. Thanks for stopping by - we look forward to hearing from you!

Karen