Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Look! A real penny tree...

I'm leaving for Winnipeg in a few hours, but when I saw this, I just had to share it. A real penny tree! Can you imagine? Wouldn't it be nice to wrap up a bunch and give them to everyone we love?

On a completely separate note, do any of you ever do this?

I took my boys to a movie the other day (Meet the Robinsons) and was so bored I spent the first 1/2 hour making a mental list of everything that was WRONG with the story -- too many characters, not enough character development, etc. However, half way through, I slipped out to go to the bathroom, and my mind wouldn't let go of two elements that did work for me.

End result? Before returning to the theatre, I sat outside the main doors on the rug for a few mins frantically jotting down notes. I filled five blank recipe cards and tucked them in my purse. To anyone else my scribblings might look like gibberish, but to me they are the possibility of a wonderful story, and a writer can never have enough of those.

13 comments:

Melissa Amateis said...

I've done the same thing - analyze the movie I'm watching. Even if I'm enjoying it, I'll nod my head and think, yup, great dark moment scene or yup, great character development. :-)

Larramie said...

Guilty as well, especially if the movie drags on and on.

Now, Holly, you've piqued my interest with the penny tree. Is it real or only another clever picture?

Holly Kennedy said...

Just a clever picture I stumbled across, Larramie.

In the book, the whole point behind "the penny tree" is that my MC's father nails a penny to the trunk of a huge tree and gives it to her as a 'gift'. When you get the book in the mail next week and read it, you'll see the relevance :)

Adrienne said...

So cool!! Want a penny tree meself now.

I have so done the movie thing. I think the funniest thought I ever had on the subject was while watching the film "The League of Extraordinary Gentleman". I thought this thought, and truly believed it before I realised how strange it was:

"I can't wait till they make this into a movie!"

Spy Scribbler said...

I wasn't thrilled with that movie, either. Very cool picture, though!

Therese Fowler said...

When the penny tree matures, will it give loonies as fruit? :)

I WISH I could watch a movie (or read a book, for that matter) without doing that evaluative stuff...but once in a while I do get swept up in the experience, and then I do my analyzing after the fact.

I can see you, the crazy author lady, manically jotting notes while people stare and whisper...little do they know the genius at work there!

Maddy said...

Oh I wish! I'm too busy herding mine back into the seats. It's a catch 22 - have to go when the theatre is practically empty, so now that it's empty there are empty spaces to run up and down in!
Cheers

Anonymous said...

I keep stumbling into the dollar stores hoping against hope to find a dollar tree. Never happens. Drat! I have seen a tin box - )tempted to make off color joke about the Tinman's wife here.) No, must be appropriately mom'ish. I find myself reading books now with a jaundiced eye. I blame Miss Snark completely. The other day I was reading an author I used to love and she used "delicious" in the same sentence to described foods. It was pathetically lazy. Have a lovey day!

Kim Stagliano (who is tired of seeing every inane comment I make show up in my Google alerts and now uses mostly "other".

Tyhitia Green said...

Holly,
I find myself doing the same exact thing. Making mental notes if I cannot jot anything down. I think every writer can attest to that. Great post! :*)

Anonymous said...

Afraid I haven't. I watch a movie strictly for entertainment. If it is boring, I shut it off or leave.

ORION said...

When I was growing up we had plants called money trees in our yard. Us kids would collect the "blossoms" and be convinced we would be rich.
I loved the penny tree when I read the book a and longed for one of my own.
Too cool.

Mia King said...

Oh, I love that image. A friend had an abundance party and gave it shiny new pennies wrapped in red tissue to everyone who attended - pennies are special in that way!

When a good idea descends or the makings of a story (how appropriate that you would put your ideas on recipe cards - gathering the ingredients for a great story!), it's the best feeling.

John Robison said...

I told my own son about many strange and wonderful plants, shrubs, trees, and animals. He believed me until he was about nine.

It would take a real master to sell a penny tree or a spaghetti bush to a teenager, and I can't even imagine what it would take for a grownup.