WFMAD Day 20 – in ink

I had a first yesterday; an email from a reader who said she was going to have "speak" (as in the title of my book that holds a lot of meaning for her) turned into a tattoo. She’s thinking of putting it on her neck.

Someone on Twitter asked me what I felt about that. Twitter is a great place for gut responses. I wrote: "Good chills. "Thank you, universe" chills. Humble chills."

There are layers, dermatological and metaphorical, to the words that we inscribe in our skin.


I have the first word of Beowulf inked (in Anglo-Saxon) just below my right hand.

There are volumes and libraries and bookstores of people out there who put their story into their skin. I think of many of their tattoos as short, epic poetry; the Song of Their Self. I know mine is.

For the record I spent about 5 minutes in the garden yesterday, picking tomatoes. In my defense, I did an absurd amount of writing and had to have my sore fingers pried from the keyboard by my BH rather late.

And I’m ready to go at it agin. You?

Ready…

Today’s advice: "Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia."  E.L. Doctorow

Set…

Today’s prompt: Your character steps into a locker room or bathroom, or a dressing room and sees someone she knows without any clothes on. The nakedness does not shock her. It’s the tattoo. Describe the location, the person, and give the story behind the tattoo.

OR – after ______________ (insert significant incident here) your character steps into a tattoo parlor and puts her cash on the counter. What ink does she want, where does she want it, and why?

OR – If I gave you a magic cream that would cause your dream tattoo to beshielded from the eyes of people who would make your life miserable if they saw it…. what would you have inked. Why?

Extra bonus points: Go get that tattoo. Life is short.

Scribble…Scribble….Scribble!