How a Rock can in Improve Your Writing

Now that I'm living next to my folks' farm, my new chores in the morning are to feed the cows hay, bottle feed a calf, and make sure a cow and her calf housed in a separate area are watered and fed.

While taking care of the cow and her calf, I got a glimpse of my dad's creativity. He doesn't have the chance to express his creativity in the obvious areas, like art or music, so it shows up in less obvious areas — like how he uses the enormous rocks on the property.

In this single cow pen, he'd used rocks to:

• shore up a shed as makeshift foundation

• as a fence

• as a water trough holder

• as stepping stones.

And if you looked across the field you'd see he'd also used them for pet tombstones, car blocks and, I think, art.

Thinking outside the box

I was impressed. He's like the MacGyver of rocks. You should see what the guy can do with barbed wire.

Seeing how my dad's mind works makes me realize that my characters don't necessarily see things the way I do. One character may see a rock and think it's a stone, another sees a tombstone, and another may see a piece of art.

Be MacGyver

My challenge, should you accept it, is to think of all uses for that ballpoint pen on your desk. Yes, be MacGyver. Go for it.

I'll get you started:

• a straw

• a weapon (dull knife)

• self-tattoo instrument

• . . .