Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened
Dr. Seuss
Sure, I should have posted this two days ago; see above, I got busy (and will stay smiling in my lateness).
Dr. Seuss was about as far from cliché as cliché gets. We aren’t all so original. I personally couldn’t imagine such vibrant and unusual characters). I had a writing professor at UCLA Extension (Les Plesko) who used to hammer us about clichés in what we read aloud from our writing during class. He was always right; and the resulting words could be painful to hear. We all cliché.
Dictionary.com defines a cliché as: a trite or stereotyped expression. Yes. The great (or not so great thing) about writing classes is learning how much we (me) say/write that falls under that rubric. And when you want to shock people don’t use the obvious cliché (which can often be the social answer or statement in a situation). Even the imaginative fall into the easy altogether too often.
My New Year’s day was full of clichés! Both in word and action (I even had Champagne the night before with a friend). At yoga I wished everyone a happy new year. Smiled. Did my down dog. I called my family. I relaxed by the fire. Even got just a little bit of work done. Read. Socialized. It was comforting. And that’s why clichés survive! They’re easy, comforting and get the point across in a non-threatening way.
So I enjoyed my cliché day.
And my trite New Year’s resolution is to be more active on my blogs, social networks and Twitter (its own category). I work at it (so hard!) and then get distracted (a cliché excuse and one that many others will use with respect to their own resolutions).
Happy New Year (cliché)
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