Phases

My husband and I go through these weird phases. We get on some sort of kick and run with it for awhile, until we get so absolutely sick of it that one or both of us agrees to put it away for awhile. Here are some examples of Ganshert family phases:

There was a period of time in our life when we “called” everything. For example: I call you do the dishes. Or, I call you feed Bubba. Sort of like elementary school – only we weren’t calling “Not it!”. And for whatever reason, we went by this rule. This started leading to arguments. It was at this point we decided maybe there was a healthier way to assign chores.

We went through a very bizarre phase where we would go to the mall and set down different coins (like pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters) and sit on a bench, and see if anybody would pick them up. We discovered nobody cared about anything less than a quarter. I can’t remember how this started – I think we were at the airport and our flight kept getting delayed, so this is what we resorted to for entertainment. We are easily amused.

We went through a phase where we stopped listening to the radio and would sing instead. This often led to hysterical laughter. If you heard either of us sing, you would understand why. It doesn’t help that Ryan always makes up his own lyrics to songs.

Our most recent phase originated from Ryan watching Donnie Brasco. Now, whenever I ask him a question or ask him to do something, his first response is, “Fah-get about it!” I have a feeling this phase will be leaving quite soon.

I go through phases is reading and writing too. I’ll get on one author and read all of his/her books . *cough* Francine Rivers *cough* Or I’ll get hooked on a certain genre and read all those books. Or, as a writer, I’ll fall in love with a word or a phrase or a character trait and find myself using them often in my writing. I have to be very careful here, since this can get repetitive.

Question to ponder: What phases have you gone through in life? If you’re a writer, what writing phases have your gone through?removetweetmeme

10 thoughts on “Phases

  1. Katie

    Nothing makes me more irritated when I get the shaft on ice cream! I like it when it overflows over the dish!

     
     
  2. Ryan_McGivern

    I was laughing out loud at your phases that you and Ryan go through…especially the one with setting coins out to see if anyone picks them up…that is absolutely hilarious!!!

    I would say Susan and I are currently going through a Borders/Coldstones phase, but that has been going on far to long to be considered a phase. We have discussed how we are going to accomplish our Border trip once we have kids (so I suspect it is more than a phase), but the Coldstones might stop soon as the workers have been skimpin us on the Sinless Ice Cream b/c they have a hard time digging it out…drives me crazy!!

     
     
  3. Katie

    Eileen – I definitely went through a Twilight phase! I was equally obsessed.

    I just remembered two other HUGE, expensive phases I went through – although these had nothing to do with my husband. In fact, he was rightfully annoyed with these phases since I became borderline obsessive (who am I kidding – there was nothing borderline about it) and they were both incredibly expensive. Here they are… hermit crabs, and SIMS 2 (the computer game). I spent half of an entire year comatose in front of my computer living in the alternate world of my sims. It was utterly ridiculous. And I bought hermit crabs as a class pet, thinking they would be low maintenance – how little did I know. There’s an entire hermit crab community out there!!

     
     
  4. Erica Vetsch

    If I come across an author I enjoy, I read everything I can get my hands on by that writer.

    I tend to have a pet phrase or description for each book. It usually takes a crit partner to pick these out for me. And sometimes it gets downright silly, and I can’t believe I missed them!

     
     
  5. Jeannie Campbell

    i went through a crochet phase, beading phase, aerobics phase, weight training phase, bicycling phase, and now writing. this one is here to stick. it’s all consuming!

     
     
  6. Jaime

    My husband and I get in MAJOR phase (expensive too). There was the golf phase – that was more him than me – the fly fishing phase – the Montana vacation phase – now the rock climbing phase… although that one is lasting for years now so it’s probably not a phase any more.

    In writing … my phase is sarcasm. Every character is sarcastic. Must. Stop. That. It’s very one sided and very … sarcastic.

     
     
  7. Eileen Astels Watson

    Katie, this is so true to life. Phases, got to have them. Some appear seasonal in our home.

    Right now I’m in a phase with reading that is spilling over into my life. The Twilight Series is addictive to me right now and my girls keep rolling their eyes when I bring something from the stories into a normal conversation. They’re starting to get embarrassed to have me around their friends for fear I’ll some how bring up something from the series during an innocent (nothing at all related to the series) discussion. Needless to say, they think I’m obsessed with it!

    Definitely, phases are a part of life. That’s a great concept to add to a novel, to!

     
     
  8. Ralene

    In my novel, the female lead bit her lip so much, I’m surprised she has one left.

    My husband and I are game people, so before we had kids, we would go through game phases and play a game to death.

     
     
  9. Katie

    AGH! Me too! My characters gaze A LOT! How do we get past this?

     
     
  10. Jody Hedlund

    Too cute, Katie! I love it.

    I’m too predictable to have any phases in my personal life. But in my writing, I get stuck on certain words that I like. I tend to overdo the whole “he gazed” thing. My characters also seem to do a lot of “turning.” 🙂 I hope I can get through the phase or I’m going to bore the poor characters to death!

     
     

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