Things are settling down at Cullen Corner after the Holidaze. I hope everything is going well for you.
It’s been quiet here on The Write Spot Blog on account of the holidays: Decorating, undecorating, traveling to be with family, having family here, watching Hallmark holiday movies, watching Doc Martin and The Amazing Mrs. Maisel ( highly recommend), the usual December-January busyness.
Since I last posted, I changed the title on the recently published The Write Spot: Discoveries to better reflect the contents.
New title, same contents: The Write Spot to Jumpstart Your Writing: Discoveries.
Now, I’m working on the next anthology. I hope you are active with a project that you enjoy.
Today’s prompt: What’s the latest?
I’m loving all the wonderful reviews of Discoveries. Here’s the latest review of Discoveries.
Review by Diana McCurdy in The Sonoma County Gazette, founded by Vesta Copestakes.
Book Review: The Write Spot to Jumpstart Your Writing: Discoveries
Book groups proliferate so why not writing groups? That old beatnik, pre-hippie poet, Kenneth Rexroth said, “Against the ruin of the world, there is only one defense: the creative act.” And with so much unease in our society, with threats of war, polarization of political ideologies, hurricanes and fires why not diffuse some of that negativity by creating? Let us write stories, and poems, and essays, perhaps to stave off some ruin and stay semi-sane at least.
Marlene Cullen is the creator of Jumpstart Writing Workshop. In a comfortable, non-threatening atmosphere, participants write and write and write. Their products turned out be so compelling that she wanted to share them with all of us. She has assembled a charming anthology entitled Discoveries. Discoveries is a compendium of all different kinds of creative acts and for each selection the creative process is described in detail.
Writers are given a “prompt.” At the end of each piece we are told exactly what the inspiration was. For example, one writer recounts a comic interlude with a recalcitrant Weber BBQ. The impetus for this was, “write about a leap you have taken.” At the end of each author’s section there is a mini-biography and some words of encouragement that describes their process.
Part of the delight elicited by this collection is the disparate range of topics. This little book includes something for everyone’s preferences. Subjects include old-fashioned laundry rituals, the great hot lunch, cold lunch school dilemma, hormones, romance, gloves and soap.
The ending segment reads like a lesson plan to start a writing group of one’s own. There are hints on what to do if your creative juices are stuck, a list of prompts and a generous bibliography. Entries are short and in our busy, very busy lives it is easy to pick up the book and read a few inclusive selections and then put it down for another day to discover a different author’s work. Available on Amazon.com,
Diane McCurdy was born in Santa Rosa. Her dad had ranches so she learned the value of hard work at an early age. She has a BA from SF State and an MA from SSU in English Literature and several teaching credentials, two grown children and three cats. She’s been all over Europe, Mexico, Hawaii and visited schools in Japan and China and stayed with relatives in Brazil. Diane has a lifelong interest in film. Her mother met her father when she was selling tickets at the box office of her father’s theater, the first motion picture house in Sonoma County.
