When I first entered school, I didn’t know anything.
When I received my diploma, I thought I knew everything.

When I first entered college, I didn’t know anything.
When I received my degree, I thought I knew everything.

When I first entered the workforce, I didn’t know anything.
When I received my first promotion, I thought I knew everything.

When I first entered parenthood, I didn’t know anything.

. . . Some things never change.

I came across a link today (via K.M Weiland) to a post on AuthorCulture with a fun challenge to write a sentence illustrating redundancy.  I played around with the idea today while multi-tasking, in true IT fashion.  What I finally came up with ended up more like a tongue-twister than a redundant sentence, but once I began to hear it in my head I stopped thinking about redundancy and was struck simply by the way it sounded.

In my recent fiction writing efforts I had forgotten how much fun words can be, not just for their precision, but simply for their sound.

I’ve posted the sentence I wrote below along with a challenge of my own.

“He knew he didn’t know what he didn’t know, but knowing he didn’t know it didn’t mean he didn’t need it and he knew he needed it more than he needed to know it.”

Okay.  Now it’s your turn!

The challenge:

Using alliteration or assonance, or both, craft a sentence that’s simply fun to hear.  Write something, anything!  Don’t worry if it makes sense (think Dr. Seuss if that helps), as long as it sounds interesting then post it in the comments if you’d like to share.

As for me, I’ve started hearing all my neglected poetry calling out for me to come and play this weekend.

Maybe I will . . . it sounds like fun!

by John Rea-Hedrick
Thursday, December 10, 2009

To wait is the hardest thing to do.
Potential energy held at bay
awaiting kinetic birth.
To be poised between the before . . . Continue Reading

by John Rea-Hedrick
Tuesday, December 1, 2009

If a lifetime of wisdom could be summed up in a single word,
no mouth could utter it.

If a lifetime of love could be felt in one beat of one heart,
no flesh could . . . Continue Reading

by John Rea-Hedrick
Saturday, November 28, 2009

I said goodbye to my friend today.
Rather more like to the promise of a friend, . . . Continue Reading

by John Rea-Hedrick
Thursday , November 19, 2009

Most of my life has been spent
with my eyes below . . . Continue Reading

Another creative writing experiment!

Around or so a year ago I wrote a short story humbly entitled ‘Life’.  It was based on the germ of an idea which I expanded into an 800 word flash fiction piece for a writing contest.  I came across the story last week in my OneNote archives and found with time and distance I wasn’t happy with it after all.  (I’m not sure if that’s part of the process of perspective or if it’s a symptom of my inner critic.)  I still found myself drawn to the theme and so I wasn’t content to simply leave it in its newly recognized, inglorious form and wanted to resurrect it (pun intended).  However, rather than simply rewriting it, I decided to reincarnate it (yes, another pun) in a different form – a poem. . . . Continue Reading

Let’s face it, for any writer submitting their work for publication then rejection letters are inevitable.  However, it’s best to think of these letters as the really are – a part of the journey, not the end of the road.  With that in mind, I’d like to share an experience of my own I recently had along the way.

Back in July, I entered one of my poems, Shizaru Undone, in the New Millennium Writings summer poetry contest.  . . . Continue Reading

by John Rea-Hedrick
Monday, November 10, 2008

I look each morning toward the sun
and find a new veil freshly hung.
In vain I seek to break to the bond
to see what truth lies just beyond . . . Continue Reading

by John Rea-Hedrick
Friday, November 07, 2008

Among the waking buds of Spring,
I watched a robin, silent, sing. . . . Continue Reading