Deceptive Truths or Truthful Deceptions

I struggle while writing to step away from my own existence, apart from my appalling earnestness, my day-to-day experience, to open myself to creativity and imagination. Lately, I’ve employed writing prompts in recent “scene storming” exercises and have been astonished and thrilled by the short, albeit completely untruthful, tales that river out of me. Who knew?

For that reason, I’m in awe--thrilled as well as shocked--to have received this award from Helen at Straight from Hel (and by the way, isn’t that the best blog name ever?).

Thank you Helen! In acknowledging her own award Helen said: “I am honored to receive such an award, but wonder, since accepting this award means I must lie to all of you, does…think I’m a liar or a creative writer? Hmm….” I choose to be optimistic that, unexpected as it seems to me, Helen thinks I’m a creative writer…so now I need to get on it and tell you some lies.

Actually, here are the rules:

Recipients must:

1. Thank the person who gave this to you.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you.
4. Tell us up to six outrageous lies about yourself, and at least one outrageous truth.
5. Allow your readers to guess which one or more are true.
6. Nominate seven "Creative Writers" who might have fun coming up with outrageous lies.
7. Post links to the seven blogs you nominate.
8. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know you nominated them.

I’m short on the seven, but I nominate:

Simon at Constant Revision , because I can’t wait to read the lies he comes up with.

Carolina at Carol’s Prints because she’s as clever as Simon.

Sarah at Sarah with a Chance because she’s so, um, “creative” that I laugh at everything she writes. Imagine giving her permission to lie…er, I mean, to be creative. Here's a hint though, if she tells you she doesn't like Johnny Depp, it's a great big fat one.

Rea at Us in Tejas, because I’m pretty sure she can give us all a run for our money.

So with no further ado, here are my up to six lies, and one outrageous truth. Guess which is which!

I completed a reverse dive with 2 1/2 somersaults from the three-meter board (aka: the high dive) for the first time ever during a college diving meet and lived to tell the tale.

I used to dye my hair different colors, including pink.

I once stole apples from an orchard in Tasmania.

Prior to a first date, my paramour spilled battery acid on his pants. They disintegrated while we sat in the movie theatre.

I have lived in twelve different states.

Conan O’Brien is my first-cousin-once-removed.