I am lovin’ on Polyvore, spending a little time every day indulging myself by putting together Pretty Lady Outfits. Shoes that would break my ankles. Dresses that would make me look like a cow in the all-barnyard production of Auntie Mame. It is most enjoyable.

One of my sisters-in-law mentioned ‘ten’ like, which I had forgotten. I remembered play like, but ‘ten’ like is what we called it most of the time, short for pretend like, meaning let’s pretend. ‘Ten’ like you’re a bandit and I’m the Lone Ranger. ‘Ten’ like we’re lost in the jungle and Tarzan jumps out of the tree — ‘ten’ like the swing set is the tree.

That’s why I like Polyvore: I can ‘ten’ like. I mean, here is how I dress in real life: Jeans from Goodwill, shirt a gift, jacket a gift, shoes (not shown) ten years old and a gift. Total cost of outfit: $0.00.

And here is how I ‘ten’ like I dress on Polyvore. Total cost of outfit: over $2,000.00. Total cost to me: $0.00.

So what is the sadness? I was hoping to use Polyvore to show what my characters are wearing. That would work for some characters, but I wanted to show the dress Freldt was wearing and swapped to Bel, so that Bel was kidnapped in Freldt’s place. (FORCE OF HABIT) Maybe I’d better dress my characters before I write them. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a lilac double-breasted jumpsuit with a plaid peplum? Even on the internet?

On the plus side, doing a Google search for lilac double-breasted jumpsuit plaid peplum totally brings up my book, so….

WRITING PROMPT: A character knows exactly what he or she wants to buy, but can’t find it.

MA