Tag: Benedict Cumberbatch

Laugh or cry

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Depressed woman“I’m just a little unwell.”
– Matchbox Twenty, Unwell

I’m having a very hard time of it this week. Some of it is certainly post-vacation letdown, which can be particularly fierce when your vacation consists of a week on a mountaintop hanging out with other writers. (Other attendees have written about this phenomenon, so it’s not just me.) There’s also the not-so-small matter that, since I suffer from depression, I’m vulnerable to gloomy weather, and it rained EVERY DAY I was at Wildacres, starting about ten minutes after I arrived and continuing through my drive home. (In fairness, we had about two hours of sunshine Friday afternoon, but that’s it. Even when it wasn’t actively raining, it was still overcast and too dim.) Add the fact that I didn’t watch my diet and consumed too little fruit & veg and too many evil sugars and it’s a miracle that I haven’t totally dissolved into a weeping mess and just refused to get out of bed.

(For the record, that’s never happened to me yet. I may be a weeping mess now and then, but I still get up and get dressed first.)

Anyhow, I spent way, way too much time on Pinterest today and luckily saw a video that both made me laugh and brought me back from the point of tears. So, in the interest of possibly helping another despondent soul, here it is. Trust me, the story is funny, and the way Gerard Butler tells it is truly delightful. Enjoy!

UPDATE: The above video has been supplanted by one that’s even better. I give you Pine Nuts versus Cumberbitches:

Writing Prompt: Sherlock’s word hunt

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This prompt is inspired by episode two (“The Blind Banker”) of the BBC’s mystery drama Sherlock. (If you haven’t seen it, you really should check it out. I resisted the idea of a modern Sherlock Holmes, but it won me over with the premiere episode.)

Pick up a book at random and write down three words from it as follows:

  • Go to page 15 and write down the first word on the page.
  • Go to page 39 and write down the fifth word on the page.
  • Go to page 70 and write down the ninth word on the page.

Now take those three words and use them in a poem, scene or story. (If you end up with unhelpful words like conjunctions or articles, try again with a different book.)

Happy writing!

P.S. — Check out last week’s Discworld dialogue prompt if you missed it.

Check this article for some additional prompts.