The Write Spot Blog by Marlene Cullen

Tag: DSBriggs

  • Any Haircut Is Better With a Smile

    Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer’s voice on the page.

    Any Haircut Is Better With a Smile

    By DSBriggs

    My hair is what? Old, graying and instead of wiry, fine. Since I have been retired my hair style is whatever takes no work and usually in need of a trim or cut. 

    Haircuts, however, are so darned expensive that to save money I used cut-rate clip-joints. I decided to let my hair grow out. It eventually came down to my shoulders. I tried to wear it back with a French braid or bun or even a pony tail. This dream came crashing down when I no longer had the hand strength or coordination to use rubber bands designed for fine hair. Too klutzy to use hair accessories like combs or claws or barrettes, I resorted to clips. My friends were too kind to tell me that really wasn’t working either.

    So, I decided to splurge. Go to a real salon that shampoos and styles. 

    I met the hairdresser. She seemed really nice.  When she offered me coffee or tea. I thought, why not? Part of the splurge.  She sat me in front of a full-length mirror and left. 

    Off she went to get my coffee. She was gone so long I thought maybe she had gone to Starbucks. But she re-emerged with a cup. I apologized to her for the hassle of having to brew a fresh pot. (What else could take so long?) She said that the coffee was already made but she had been so busy she hadn’t had time to pee. I could understand that scenario perfectly. She also admitted that her mom had called with an update about her sister who was hospitalized the night before.

    We finally settled in for the haircut. We looked at pictures of haircuts because she wanted to make sure we were on the same page. I wanted a long pixie with feathered bangs and some height on top. Several of the styles we looked at were what I had in mind. The only style I did not like was an angular, very short cut with long bangs swept to the side. I specifically said I did not want that type of cut. Hair in my face drives me nuts. She said that she understood and went to work.  

    I noticed my hair kept getting shorter and shorter as she talked about her sister. Since it was in the back I wasn’t too concerned as inches came off and hair piled up around the chair.

    It wasn’t until the sides started disappearing that I commented that it was a bit short.  After the fact was a stupid time to point that out. I was still hopeful my bangs would be okay. No. She cut my hair exactly like the picture I did not like. Heavy glop of hair over one eye. 

    The dastardly deed was done.  I paid and over-tipped because while I was disappointed, I didn’t want to make her feel worse since her family was in melt-down.

    As I write, I’m wondering if my lack of communication with the hairdresser and my doctor the day before was my fault? I used to pride myself on explaining so clearly that people understood. When had I lost that ability? Have I lost it or is the world so crazy now that people do not listen carefully? I certainly can’t listen to the news at all. If I listened carefully, I would just want to get on an iceberg and float away.

    So while I sort of have forgiven the hair cutter, I have not forgiven myself for allowing her to ignore my wishes. 

    Ironically, I have received many compliments. I have also been reminded that:

    Hair grows back and any haircut is better with a smile.

    DSBriggs and her hair live in Northern California. She has been writing with timed prompts for over ten years. Her writing has been published  in  Marlene Cullen’s The Write Spot  Anthologies.  The books are available through Amazon and your local bookseller.

    When not writing, Donna enjoys reading, thinking about quilting, and walks with Moose, her 12 and a half year old hound. She also enjoys travel and time with good friends. 

  • Print Dreams

    Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer’s voice on the page.

    Print Dreams

    By DSBriggs

    Back in the day when I was a teen, I wanted to be a writer. I picked out my pen name, Kelly Brione.

    I began to dress as a writer. My image, based on a Stanford University guide, was to dress in black tights, a gray skirt, and a pink fluffy sweater over a black leotard.

    I had plans to write the Great American Novel, even though I did not have a clue how to do that. 

    I talked enough about being a writer that my Dad purchased a Smith-Corona portable typewriter for me. It had Elite type rather than the larger Pica type. Elite was the size of type that newspapers used for writing news stories in columns.

    I dreamed about being a columnist like Herb Caen or Erma Bombeck. 

    One thing about writing is that I have always loved libraries.

    Back in the day when libraries were stocked with books and magazines, tables and chairs for studying space and enforced quiet. So different today, with cases of CDs, DVDs, media, and computers in place of  drawers filled with index cards that let you finger thru author, title or subject cards.

    There are, of course, still books, but stacked in tall narrow aisles. So narrow in fact that a person with a backpack cannot turn around. If two people are in the aisle, one has to back up so the other may squeeze by. 

    Back in the day when aisles were wider, a girl could sit on the floor and read a chapter or two before deciding whether to check the book out. The library limit was two books and two weeks before it was overdue.  

    Back in the days of my late teens I had a summer internship at the local paper that published only on Wednesdays. I got to write features. That was really fun and some were even published. 

    However, when the Sports Reporter was sent to Alaska to cover our hometown’s quest for the Little League World Championship,  I was assigned to cover the local sports desk. I never had to go to a game but would wait for the scores to be phoned in to write up before midnight deadline.

    What I remember most was struggling to come up with forty different ways to say beaten or defeated. That was probably the most colorful coverage of weekly scores the readers ever had. Despite having been published, I was not offered a job at the end of my internship.

    So in the fall I went onto college to start my major in Journalism. The required English classes killed my interest in writing. I was not interested in why a comma was placed where it was. Line by line analysis of Cotton Mathers’ 17th century sermons extinguished my dream of becoming a writer.

    So I switched to Social Science, a major for people who didn’t know what they wanted when their dream became a nightmare.

    I stopped writing. 

    As a side note, I recovered my  love of writing.

    DSBriggs began writing again by journaling. It was, however, Marlene Cullen’s introduction to prompt writing thru Jumpstart that reignited DSBriggs love of writing just for the sake of writing.

    Dreams of being published were realized when her work was included in The Write Spot Anthologies: Discoveries, Possibilities and Path To Healing.

    DSBriggs still lives near a library in Northern California. 

  • Fortunes in cookies. Prompt #632

    Today’s Writing Prompt:

    Write fortunes for fortune cookies.

    See what DSBriggs did with this prompt on the Sparks page of The Write Spot Blog.

    #amwriting #justwriting #iamwriting

  • Fortunes I Did Not Get In Cookies

    Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer’s voice on the page.

    Fortunes I Did Not Get In Cookies

    By DSBriggs

    A wise man marries a wiser woman.

    You will get good news; and you will recognize it.

    If you miss your bus, start walking.

    A book returned is a friendship kept.

    Get a dog, it will save you.

    Blood is thicker than water but only Vampires should care.

    Delight in today; for tomorrow is no guarantee.

    Buy a car for its usefulness; not for its beauty.

    The One that got away is not the One for You.

    A blind man cannot see beyond his fingers.

    Asking for help is a sign of strength but ignoring it can be a weakness.

    A half full glass can be emptied and refilled.

    A wise animal is better than a noisy friend.

    Luck is knowing when to walk away.

    Keep a pencil around for it never needs booting up.

    And one I did get; if your table moves, move with it.

    DSBriggs lives and writes in northern California. Her muse lately has been a roommate with soulful brown eyes, four long legs, and a very loud bark, Moose.

    Donna has been fortunate to be published in Marlene Cullen’s The Write Spot Series including: Discoveries, Possibilities and Writing As A Path To Healing, available at your local bookseller. Also available in both print form and as ereaders at Amazon.

    Writing with Marlene and the other Jumpstarters has been one of the most fortunate activities of my life.