I have traveled the Woods. I gained entrance with a single coin. One side of the coin was Faith, the other was Frustration. I wandered down several dead-ends. I thrashed through thorny thickets. They tore...myself emerging from the Woods on the other side. The moral of the story: Faith and Frustration can be a valuable combination. (And now I know how to recover if a svn commit crashes halfway through)

Original Posting 20 June 2009 Writers' Digest, October 2004, pages 26 to 33, has a collection of short "nuggets of wisdom" related to getting published. Maria Schneider is the author of the compilation...in your list. Now think about something else that helps you keep writing. Put that down. Try to come up with five different inspirations, butt-kickers, or whatever that helps you with your writing

I had girlhood dreams of being an archeologist/paleontologist... and have an adult appreciation of metaphor, of course! SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Metaphorically speaking, Sagittarius, you have unearthed or are about to unearth a rare fossil. I think it's a pretty sensational discovery. It's a missing link that could help you make sense out of episodes in your past that have always mystified...

I'd like to eat agirlwithavoice 's cherry.

It's always amused me how much my dad sort of idolises Freddie Mercury (he's always seemed very taken with the fact that "I think he would basically sleep with anyone who attracted him, male or female") and then gets mildly flustered about gay men and basically just everything about him leads me to wonder if my dad isn't a little... AC/DC.

...this passage as an illustration tonight, but my brain (living in the thinky space of how we can live righteously within our culture) took a left turn, realizing that this is an absolutely perfect metaphor: Put yourself in Peter's place: night, in the safe place of his boat with his buddies, and suddenly this figure walking on the waves. It's not a ghost, it's Jesus--but maybe Peter doesn't...

I love these!  Thanks to Southern Review of Books for this posting.  It takes a lot of talent to write this bad. Deliberate attempts at bad writing have been popularized by the Bulwer-Lytton awards...24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.  25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

the wailing wind has waged war against my lighter again! if god were real i would say "please stop this wind so i can light my cigarette!" and god being god wouldn't respond, but the wind would still...wouldn't tie them down. here i am, so much like a tree, blowing back and forth in this gale force but stuck in one place. all i desire is a single tornado or hurricane, or maybe just a chainsaw.

...touched at how the people in the village paid their unduly respect to the teacher and his family upon his death. I was on the verge of crying…(hahaha) Later on, we were asked to create a metaphor of ourselves based on how we perceive our own image, values and beliefs as a teacher. So, I came out with one. My metaphor would be a walker. It supports and facilitates little toddlers learning...

Here's an addition to Mako's excellent An Invisible Handful of Stretched Metaphors list: It's The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates : Economist Leeson leads readers...tales of pirates both famous and infamous, the book rarely bogs down even when explaining intricate economic concepts, making it a great introduction to both pirate history and economic theory.