Extraterrestrial Visitor Day & Other Odd Holidays

Will your tooth ache on Toothache Day? Will you see any aliens on Extraterrestrial Visitor Day?  On National Stop Bullying Day, will you do your best to put a stop to your neighborhood bully?  Will you read your favorite book while you take a bath on Read in the Bathtub Day? Choose one or more of the holidays below and make it a part of the story you are writing.

Toothache Day – Okay. I’m sure you have the same question about this unusual holiday on February 9 that I do. Why would anyone in their right mind want to celebrate having a toothache? A toothache is painful and extremely unpleasant, and certainly no cause for celebration. The origin of this strange holiday is unknown, but you can put your writer’s imagination to work and come up with a perfectly good reason for a toothache to be celebrated. Maybe the person who created this hoiday made a wonderful discovery on the day he had a toothache. Maybe the discovery was made because of the toothache. Maybe this discovery made him really, really rich. A wonderful discovery because of a toothache that ended up making you rich would be a good enough reason to start this holiday.

Extraterrestrial Visitor Day – On February 10, 1947 in Roswell, New Mexico, there was an incident with a UFO. There have been books written and movies made about this unexplained and mysterious incident. There have even been entire television series written using this incident as a basis for a fictional story. This day is set aside to honor all extraterrestrial visitors from the past, from the present, and who will come in the future. Celebrate this day by writing a story of your own that uses this incident as its basis.

National Stop Bullying Day – Celebrated on February 9, this holiday brings to light the fact that bullying is a serious problem that does need to be stopped. As a child, I was the victim of the school bully, and I can tell you that it is no fun at all to be at the mercy of someone who believes that he can do anything to you that he wants and get away with it. As writers, though, we can use bullies in our fictional stories to bring attention to this problem. And then we are in control of what happens to the bullies. Hmmm. Could writers be classified as bullies when it comes to their control over the characters in their creations?

Read in the Bathtub Day – After you put a stop to bullying on February 9, what could be better way to end your day than a nice, relaxing bubble bath and a good book? Okay, you don’t have to make it a bubble bath, but one is so relaxing. If you want the experience to be even more pleasurable, light a few scented candles and maybe play some soft instrumental music in the background. Pick out the book of your choice, dare anyone to disturb you, then lounge in the tub and read. Don’t set a time limit for your ultimate bath. Just read and soak until you are ready to face the world again.

Umbrella Day – The creator of this holiday on February 10 isn’t known, neither is its origin. I would guess, though, that some person who was so glad to have an umbrella on a rainy day invented it. Use your writer’s imagination and pen a story about the reasons for creating this unique day to celebrate the umbrella. How unique will your reason for the creation of this day be?

Plimsoll Day – Are you wondering what a Plimsoll is? Well, I was too. But I was wondering the wrong thing. Plimsoll was a person, not a thing. His name was Samuel Plimsoll. He was a British coal merchant who became a reformer and politician. He noticed that it was a common practice to overload heavily insured ships, which were then called coffin ships. He attacked this practice and because of his persistance, the Britain’s Merchant Shipping Act was born. There is a line on the side of ships marking the maximum load allowed by law. Named for him, this line is called the Plimsoll Line.

On February 10, why not research Samuel Plimsoll and what he did.  Then write a story about him so that his name might be better known.