Dumbstruck Day & Other Daffy Holidays

Who will you confess to and what will you confess on True Confessions Day? Will you be able to do anything right on Everything You Think is Wrong Day? What is going to happen to leave you speechless on Dumbstruck Day?

Absolutely Incredible Kid Day – A kid is a baby goat, so this is a holiday to celebrate goats, right? Nope. This is a day to let your own human kids know just how special they are and how much they are loved. On this day you are encouraged to write letters to your children so they can see on paper just how much they mean to you and how special you believe they are. Don't stop at writing letters to your own children. You can also write letters to your nieces, nephews, cousins, and the list goes on and on. Any child you know would love to receive a handwritten letter from you.

Write a story about the town hermit who wrote a letter to the kid who lived next door. This letter changed not only the life of the kid, but it also changed the life of the town hermit. How?

Brutus Day - When I first saw the name of this holiday, I was sure it had something to do with the Brutus that always wanted to beat up Popeye. Well, I was very wrong. Marcus Brutus conspired with others to kill Julius Caesar, and stabbed Caesar to death on March 15. I should have realized that Brutus Day had something to do with Julius Caesar. This day is also the Ides of March, the one day that Caesar was told to be extra careful on.

Create a character who lived during the time of Julius Caesar and witness what happened on the Ides of March. Was this character a conspirator in the killing of Caesar? Did he help Marcus Brutus? Or did he try and stop him?

Buzzards Day - March 15 is the day that the residents of Hinckley , Ohio welcome back the turkey vultures. So why not call it Turkey Vulture Day? Maybe whoever named this day figured that Buzzards Day would attract more attention. These birds do perform a service. Their sense of smell is very keen and they hunt carcasses. These avian scavengers clean dead animals from the countryside, as well as from the sides of highways and roads.

Let's look into the life of a family of buzzards for something to write about. The last baby that a buzzard couple has is growing up and is very dissatisfied with his (her) life as a buzzard. He would so much rather be an eagle or a pelican or a robin, anything except a buzzard. He becomes so unhappy that he flies away from home. Mom and Dad have a problem on their wings (birds don't have hands). What happens? How do they solve this problem?

True Confessions Day - This is the day to get rid of all those guilty feelings you have been carrying around for quite some time. Confessing your wrongs makes you feel clean, just be careful not to confess to the wrong person. If you are a religious person, confess to whatever god you worship. If there isn't anyone you want to confess to, try your mirror. I'm sure it will listen.

Create a character who doesn't have anyone to confess to, no one to talk with. So this character decided that her mirror will just have to do. But her mirror is inhabited by a spirit. Is this spirit good or is it evil? And what happens?

Everything You Think is Wrong Day – Have you ever had a day where absolutely everything went wrong? A day when everything you touched just fell to pieces? A day when you just couldn't do anything right? I know I've had days like that. This day doesn't celebrate days like that, it just acknowledges that they do happen. No reason to stress out when you do have days like this; things will be better tomorrow.

Days when everything goes wrong can be distressing, but they can also be kind of funny, especially in the life of a character you create. Make a day when everything that can possibly go wrong goes so wrong for your character and make it hilarious.

Dumbstruck Day - Dumbstruck is an adjective that means temporarily deprived of speech, as if by surprise or confusion. Have you ever been dumbstruck? This day takes notice of the fact that many people are dumbstruck and confounded by many different things.

I returned home the other evening from picking up my husband. My daughter had left and wouldn't be back until late, so I knew the house would be empty when we returned. My husband pulled the jeep into the driveway and when I looked through our huge window, I saw someone walking from the dining room into the living room and then turn to go down the hallway. I was dumbstruck. By the time I could speak, I thought maybe I had imagined it. When I told my husband what I saw, he laughed at me. I was so sure that no one was home that I hadn't even noticed my daughter's vehicle sitting right next to us. No wonder my indoor dog wasn't going crazy!

I'm sure there has been at least one instance in your life when you have been dumbstruck. I could twist what happened to me around and make the person I saw an actual intruder. It could be a ghost, a demon, a vampire, a human intruder, or whatever I wanted to make it. Write down what happened to you, then twist it around and make a story out of it.