Friday, February 18, 2011

First Crusade Challenge

~~Rachael gave us a great first Crusader Challenge, didn’t she? Check out the info HERE.

~~I love words. Any words. All words. My most used bookmark is the One Look Dictionary Search. Check it out HERE. I can spend hours going down the rabbit hole of looking up words one after the other. All those who claim the blogosphere is just a vast way for us to bloviate have it all wrong. What’s not to love when wordsmiths do their best to entertain and inform. Though the challenge added a new one—fuliguline. Sea Ducks? I looked at that one and headed you know where. ; ) I guess I’ll have to make do with the Canadian geese flying overhead going home since I’m six hours from any sea or ocean.

~~I’m named for my daddy’s fifth grade girlfriend. Zan isn’t short for anything. Marie came from Momma. She didn’t want to use it, but it sounded good. I use both names since Zan is usually seen as male. I guess the unusual name is a magnet for nicknames as well—Jamboree and Zana Banana and high school added my favorite one of all—Zanimo-Mechanimo.

~~My lips turn up at the corners naturally so many people can’t tell when I’m sad or mad. That is until I open my mouth. It’s defused a lot of tense situations, so I’m not complaining. Unfortunately, gravity is starting to turn them down.

~~If I could take a blade to my bad character traits, I’d do it in a heartbeat, but I can’t dwell on others’ negative tendencies at all. I always look for the good in others. There is good in everyone, right? Must be. So why do I have a villain in my wip with absolutely no redeeming value at all?

~~There's a fact here that's not strictly true. Do you know which one it is?

59 comments:

  1. Hmm, so NOT named after your dad's fifth grade girlfriend? :)

    Love your silly facts. Your pink blog is so pretty--it calms me. Ahh....

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  2. Hmmm, what do you mean by "strictly true"? They all seem true to me. I know you were named after your father's grade school girlfriend. So I would have to guess that your villain does have a redeeming characteristic.

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  3. Mysti, I'll have to tell you some day...I wonder when Rachael has that planned. ; )

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  4. I think perhaps one of your nicknames is not true?

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  5. And Mysti, Glad you like my bog color. It had to look good with those cherries...if you know what I mean. ; )

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  6. Hi Crusader :)

    Thanks for coming and commenting on my post :) I'm going to guess that you weren't nicknamed Zana Banana.

    Looking forward to seeing more of you and your writing :D

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  7. Hi Zan, great to meet you today! I share your love of words, although you were way ahead of me on fuliguline! :-)

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  8. If I were your mother, there's no way I'd let dad name you after a girlfriend of his. Unless of course, he wasn't saying. Untruth? Maybe that your villain has no redeeming traits?

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  9. Hey Zan Marie! Oh my, I know what you mean about the rabbit hole of dictionaries - it's almost like reading a novel, how one word leads to another. D'you really get Canada Geese where you are? Awww. I can't wait till they start coming back and spring is finally here.

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  10. Hi Zan Marie! I love One Look have ou checked ou the phrontistery?? oh and savethewords.org, both are lots of fun for word lovers! I'm not sure what your lie is... it seems like maybe your mom wouldn't name you Marie if she didn't really like the name...

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  11. Fun! I'm guessing your lie is being called Zanimo-Mechanimo.

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  12. Hmmm, I would stick with the pack and say your name, but I'm thinking that might be too obvious. So I'm going to say that Zanimo-Mechanimo is the lie. Not sure why, except that it's fun to say. You should check out panlexicon.com. It's a great twist on a thesaurus.

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  13. I can't imagine you were named after your father's 5th grade girlfriend and I do think Zan is short for something. That's my guess.

    (I like the pink blog too).

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  14. You're not named after your dad's 5th grade girlfriend?

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  15. Hi, everyone! (waving wildly) I will say, no one is right yet with their guess. And I'll say it's subtle. BTW, you know you put me over 100 followers while I slept! Yeah!

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  16. Hiya fellow crusader! Popping in to say hi and introduce myself.

    Hmm...and I think being named after your Daddy's six grade girlfriend is the lie!

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  17. Fellow Crusader here too! I'd agree about the name being the lie :)

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  18. I think the name is the lie. Fellow crusader here! Just stopping in to say hi! :D

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  19. Hi, Fellow Crusader! :D

    My guess is the lie is the fact about your nickname.

    Like many others, I love your pink blog. Awesome.

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  20. Thanks to you all! My blog color was the only choice that didn't clash with the cherries. ; ) I'm glad you all like it.

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  21. great post - this is so much fun! I'm guessing the can't dwell on others' negative tendencies AT ALL, just because no one else has said it, and it's hard to NEVER do something. Have to find those tendencies so we can create villains, right?

    Adriana

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  22. I'd say the lie is that Zan is actually short for something or a nickname.

    I’m a fellow crusader and thought I’d stop by to say HEY! Great blog! I’m your newest follower. You can find me at www.christinebryant.blogspot.com .

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  23. I'd say it's your most used bookmark. Love your blog.

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  24. Hi Zan Marie. I think it's the bit about bad character traits. I'm sure you don't have any :-)

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  25. Great piece! I'd have to go for: I’m named for my daddy’s fifth grade girlfriend as the lie :O)

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  26. I think your lie is that you don't think you have a villain with no redeeming qualities.

    I haven't written my challenge yet, but it's next on the list!

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  27. Hi, everyone! This is fun! There are so many neat people and great writers in the Crusade. I'll have to reveal my lie to you all...some day! ; )

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  28. Thanks for this post. A lot of other contestants made poems or just did a sentence for each thing they had to include. I feel like I got to know you better this way. :-)

    <3 Gina Blechman (fellow crusader)

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  29. Thanks, Gina. I write prose mostly, so it seemed to be the natural way to go.

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  30. Hi there - fellow crusader returning your visit and stopping by to say hi and follow. Looking forward to getting to know you via your blog :)

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  31. Hello fellow crusader! Not sure which one is the lie, but I'm betting the name one is true.

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  32. Great job! I'm struggling with this but hope to get it up tomorrow.

    I'm a follower now, fellow crusader.

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  33. I love how you were named after your dad's fifth grade girlfriend. Unless that's the lie....

    Hmmmmm

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  34. It's your dad's girlfriend. Right? Come on a little hint.

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  35. I'm guessing you're not named after your dad's old girlfriend. My husband would have lost the ability to reproduce if he even thought about that!

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  36. And don't you all want to know...I guess I'd better wait so a few more can guess. ; ) I promise to tell you.

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  37. Hi Fellow Crusader,

    Just dropped by to introduce myself and follow. Thanks for the follow at mine! Loved your answers!

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  38. Hiya Zan!! Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for your kind words (and letting me know what 'the assignment' is..I'm apparently oblivious). I'm going to say that your one false factoid is the statement "..a villain with absolutely no redeeming character trait at all.." this is a conundrum, because all villains are redeemable, it's why we love them so! :)

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  39. Lovely post! I'll guess that Zan IS short from something...Zandra, perhaps? It's wonderful to meet you. Thanks for the follow, and happy crusading!

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  40. Hello fellow crusader! Oh, the dad's girlfriend name seems too obvious, doesn't it? I'm going to guess that the geese are actually American. :)

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  41. I'll guess that your villain doesn't have any redeemable character traits. There's good in him somewhere...maybe.

    Crusade on!

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  42. The geese ARE Canadian and serenade us every morning as they form up for another day on the way north. ; ) I don't think I'll tell the others yet. (she smiles coyly)

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  43. Maybe ZAN is short for soemthing? Just guessing... Nice to find you via the crusade and look forward to following.

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  44. Hi, buddy Crusader! good for you, doing the Challenge. And thanks for stopping by my blog and following. Here I am to visit your blog and do likewise. Have a great week!

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  45. I bet that wasn't actually your favorite nickname;-)

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  46. Great job! The consensus seems to point toward your nickname, doesn't it? I wonder . . . LOL. :-)

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  47. Hello fellow crusader! I'm so not going to make this challenge, because I have a ton more people still to follow. That being said, I still read and follow.

    I'm going to say that I wouldn't expect you to actually be named after your dad's 5th grade girlfriend. Otherwise, you have a very easy-going mom!

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  48. The lie is that your villain has NO redeeming qualities at all. Everyone has at least one redeeming quality ;)

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  49. I'm guessing your villain DOES have redeeming qualities. I can tell from your writing that you're too good to come up with a flat character.

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  50. That was fun! I'm going with you're not named for your dad's fifth grade girlfriend.

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  51. I was reading through your profile and I see that your a Diana Gabaldon fan. Me too!

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  52. Me three! Coming by to visit you, Joanne.
    Just saw someone reading Drums of Autumn in French on the train home this afternoon [g]

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  53. Oh, yes! Diana G. is one of the best writers and absolutely one of the best people you will find in this business. ; )

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  54. Maybe you just haven't written your villain all the way through yet....you plan on having a redeeming trait, but just haven't gotten around to it. Zan, Slovak, coming from John...well, I have a boy's name too...hence the LadyJai instead of Jamie! :D But, seriously? coming from your dad's old girlfriend?? I don't know about that one! :P

    Hello fellow crusader!

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  55. Lady Jai,
    LOL! Zan is also Italian for clown. Marie is French for Mary and means bitter. So add it together and I'm a "bitter clown." ; ) Not really, but how much fun is it to research names? I can go down the rabbit hole in a baby name book, too.

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  56. Nice job, Zan. I have no idea of the lie. As someone who uses initials rather than grapple with the myriad of nicknames folks have come up with over the years, I'd say the sobriquets are all believable. I'm thinking maybe your villain has at least one redeeming value?

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  57. Hello fellow crusader! It was fun to read some about you. I have no idea which one is the lie. Is it that you were named after the 5th grade girlfriend?

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