This is “Rebecca Lawton Week” on The Write Spot Blot. Today’s inspiration for “Just Write” is from her book, Reading Water, Lessons from the River: The water-level fluctuations, both daily and seasonal, gave us regular lessons in how the river varied depending on flow. The thalweg, or deepest or best navigable channel, didn’t always follow a direct path. On one key day early in my training, I followed a boatman friend named John through the long, straight, placid reach of the Stanislaus below Razorback Rapids. As I rowed down the middle of the river, choosing the course where the main flow had been weeks before, I noticed John’s boat meandering from one side of the river to the other. He kept his hands on the oars but barely exerted himself, simply using the oars to adjust his boat’s position on the water surface. He moved briskly downstream through the calms…
Tag: Becca Lawton
I Spy. . . Prompt #80
Today’s writing prompt is inspired from the book, Write Free, Attracting the Creative Life by Rebecca Lawton and Jordan E. Rosenfeld This writing exercise is called: I Spy List a few things that happened this morning or yesterday. They don’t have to be big or memorable, just whatever falls into your mind. The goal is to slow down and take stock of those things you do not normally notice. Writing Prompt: Focus on one event and write how you felt about this encounter. Jot down your feelings and then do a freewrite. Did the event make you think of anything else? Did it remind you of other events, experiences, memories or feelings? What were you thinking while it happened, or just before or after? Write your freewrite. Type your freewrite and save it. Log on and post your writing on The Write Spot Blog.
Reading Water by Rebecca Lawton
Reading Water, Lessons from the River by Rebecca Lawton is written with superb eloquence . . . insightful, honest, focused and entertaining, making it fun to read. Her elegant writing illustrates how to write a book that has enduring interest. Reading Water was published in 2002 and found a new audience in 2008. I wonder if 2014 will see renewed interest in this timeless book. Rebecca describes her love for water: “Raised in the city and having just burst out of high school, I ached for wilderness, and the lovely, unleashed river instantly called to me. . . . rivers led me to countless unspoiled places, challenged me to be strong, and introduced me to lifelong friends. Moreover, the river taught me to read water — to psyche out where rocks hide in riffles, find safe runs in inscrutable rapids, and keep moving through the flatwater.” Note from Marlene. ….
Guest Blogger Rebecca Lawton: conflict = bringing opposing forces to light
Rebecca Lawton writes about conflict . . . the kind writers want to have in their writing. Recently I read an article by a bestselling novelist who claimed she didn’t follow the well-worn advice to include conflict in story. “I hate conflict,” she wrote. “I don’t like to read it, and I don’t like to write it.” Wondering what techniques she did use to captivate her devoted followers, I turned to my bookshelf and opened one of her latest works to the first page. The initial paragraph set a sunny, peaceful scene in which couples and families strolled and played outdoors; the second paragraph described a situation only blocks away where a crowd was experiencing danger that had “turned their perfect Saturday into a nightmare.” Bingo. Conflict. The word is via the Latin conflictus, meaning contest. My good old Oxford English Dictionary describes conflict as “an incompatibility between two or…