Category: Funny

Seven Southern Superstitions

Posted on | by Andrea | 1 Comment on Seven Southern Superstitions

 

MC900436255[1]Just playing around with my southern roots for a spell and tossing out seven sunny south superstitions.

A superstition is the belief that one event causes another without any physical process linking the two events. Sayings and superstitions have been around about as long as the spoken word. Most of them defy logic and likely came about as a result of ignorance and fear of the unknown. Many superstitious practices can be attributed to false interpretations of natural events. Others arise from a desire to predict the future or simply to ease the anxiety of uncertainty.

We may laugh today when a superstitious saying pops out of the mouth of a friend, acquaintance or family member, but it is likely each of us has one or two we cling to, whether we admit it or not. Honestly, can you see a black cat crossing your path or a ladder propped against a building and not steer clear?

These southern superstitions gave me a chuckle and invited comment. See if they are new to you or if they spread to your part of the country and got a regional twist.

1. Pull three hairs from a dog’s tail and put them under the doorstep. Your dog will not stray from home. (He might bite you though, so fair warning.)

2. Sweeping after dark will bring sorrow to your heart. (That goes for any housework as far as I can tell.)

3. Slips from plants should be stolen. Only stolen ones grow. (Do be careful pinching off the plants at Home Depot.)

4. If you want to learn to pick a banjo, take your banjo to the forks of a dirt road on a dark night and start playing. (Wear your running shoes.)

5. To become beautiful, get behind a door and eat a chicken foot or swallow a chicken gizzard whole. (Remember, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.)

6. Run into a cobweb, you’ll get a letter. (And tick off a spider.)

7. Kissing a gal behind the ear brings bad luck. (She won’t care.)

I ran across these researching backgrounds for characters. Got my fingers crossed there are are a few you haven’t heard. It you have a favorite superstition; I’d love to hear it.

15 Things I Learned About Life From Reading Romance Novels

Posted on | by Andrea

Nearly 75 million Americans read at least one romance novel last year.  General book sales in the U.S. dropped nearly 2 percent (in 2009) but sales of romance novels rose almost 8 percent, equaling 14 percent of all fiction sold and $1.4 billion in revenue. Harlequin Enterprises alone earned $485 million.  In 2010 romance fiction was the number two category in eBook sales.

That’s serious business. Sure the heroines have gotten bolder, more butt-kicking babe than damsel in distress and the heroes haven’t, though sometimes they are dead guys with fangs. The stories, at core, are still about relationships and love and making it all work against the impossible odds of a complicated life.

That said, there has to be something more readers are getting out of  romance novels than just another happy ending.  Some life lessons, perhaps.  Recently I came across a greeting card a friend sent me early in my writing career that helps explain just what those lessons are and why romance is a growing genre in fiction sales.

All I Need To Know About Life I Learned From Reading Steamy Novels

  1. There’s never enough dirty parts.
  2. Good guys finish last.
  3. Really good guys take forever to finish.
  4. Always have the ring appraised before you say yes.
  5. Everyone has an evil twin.
  6. The more expensive the suit, the sleazier the guy.
  7. Sex is trouble.
  8. No sex is more trouble.
  9. The bitch is always more interesting.
  10. Women are catty; men are dogs.
  11. Everyone is jealous of someone.
  12. If creamy white thighs and heaving bosoms don’t raise your temperature, you’re dead.
  13. The biggest thing in a man’s trousers should be his wallet.

 

I’m adding two more:

     14.  But not the only thing in his trousers.

     15.  Happy endings can lead to a sequel.

 

Please comment with your additions to the list if you wish.