Daily writing prompt

Come up with a crazy business idea.

View all responses

It was a crazy business idea alright. But somehow my college roommate and I decided to start up “Dial A Joke.” The University was in a small river town so the word spread quickly. What was supposed to be a funny joke around campus, Dial a Joke became extremely popular at the grade schools. We had to check out joke books from the library. Adult AND children’s books. Our parents and friends must have thought we were super popular because our phone was always busy. This was in the late 1970’s. No mobile phones, google, or internet of any kind. Our little business went viral – in a non-digital way.

To slow down the ridiculous amount of calls we were getting, we started Joke of the Day and only told one joke all day. The novelty wore off for the campus and local High School after a few months. Not so for the middle and grade schools. My roommate and I were way beyond the funny idea. But we did learn a valuable lesson: Don’t put together a business plan and start carrying it out until you have figured out how you are going to get paid to do it. Do not work for free!

Daily writing prompt

Describe an item you were incredibly attached to as a youth. What became of it?

View all responses

I kept a scrapbook when I was a kid, I put souvaneers and postcards in it whenever we went somewhere, or traveled on the road to visit family. Because we had family spread all across the United States, our road trips were quite lengthy. A kid can find a LOT of treasures while on the road. We would stop at diners off the highway and drove through many little towns. I later learned that we mostly traveled on Route 66.

I had not filled up the scrapbook when I graduated to diaries, but I still have it in my cupboad of journals.

Daily writing prompt

What could you do differently?

View all responses

Man, if I knew then, what I know now…

I would hope to do a lot of things differently. These are only a few of them:

I would be less intimidated by the unknown. More assertive about the right thing.
I would trust my gut instinct instead of popular opinion. I would have enough self-respect to refuse to be treated like a doormat or a servant. I would not put so much value on what other people thought about me.
I would be a better listener, not just with my ears but with all of my senses.

I am still working on those things :-)