Happy Friday!

I’m excited to share the fifth edition of YourFridayFunny.com .

I focused on practicing writing this week, writing for its’ own sake. I’m working on a new TV project that involves mothers and daughters, and found this post.

Mother-daughter conversations

By Beth Mende Conny on February 14, 2019 in My writing life

I’m often asked what it’s like to be a writer — how I spend my days, how I experience the world. And so, I will be sharing occasional essays from the front lines of my writing life. Enjoy!
I’m in Panera’s. Across from me is a mother and daughter. I’m guessing the mom’s in her sixties, the daughter in her thirties. They’re talking loud enough so I can’t concentrate on my writing but soft enough so I can’t make out what they’re saying. But I can tell from the body language that the daughter is in a pissy mood and that her mother is trying, unsuccessfully, to engage her in conversation. I don’t like the daughter.

And this makes me wonder about conversations between mothers and daughters. More specifically: Why do daughters expect their mothers to hang onto their every word?

I was impressed by how the essay wove the elements of observation, opinion, and opened a conversation about what daughter’s expect from their mothers.

I set a timer for 5 minutes, and wrote my own reactions to watching a mother and daughter.

I’m writing at Equinox gym, and am eavesdropping on a conversation between two very fit women. I don’t peg them as mother and daughter, until the curly blonde one says angrily, “Mom, you never listen to me.” The mother, sleekly brunette, smiles sadly. “Yes, I do. You just said you were getting your nails done at 3:00.” “That’s not what I meant.” The daughter pouted as if she were a toddler. Mother looked concerned. ”Oh, you mean about the other thing.” Angry stare and nod from the daughter. “Well, honestly, honey, I don’t want to tell you what to do, but I don’t think going to Peru to take ayahuasca is going to help you find yourself.”

Here’s how to do the exercise:

1. Find yourself a public place to write. Locate a mother and daughter or any two people that interest you.
2. Set a timer for five or ten minutes.
3. Write about what you observe and how it makes you feel.
4. Repeat the exercise, and substitute two main characters in a current project.
5. Compare the two exercises. What similarities and differences do you notice? There’s something exciting about writing about something real, and then writing about the imaginary from the same place inside you.

Enjoy the funnys!

Here’s to your successful writing,

Professor Marilyn Horowitz