Write about a time you were late.
Write about something it’s too late for.
Something you wish you would have said, but now it’s too late.
Something you wish you would have done, but now it’s too late.
Or is it?
Author: mcullen
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The Last Waltz
Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer’s voice on the page.
The Last Waltz
By Kathy Guthormsen
There’s nothing quite like waltzing through the kitchen with a refrigerator and a mop, sweeping and gliding through pooling water to get your heart pumping in the morning.
The refrigerator had been sick. First came a fever that caused all the food – and it was full of food because the kids were visiting – to thaw and warm. Then it exhaled and released the freon from its pipes. That was last week, before the fridge doctor came to try to revive it. This morning, it gasped its last breath, lost control of its plumbing and poured water onto the floor. Hence the waltz.
I summoned my inner Wonder Woman and wrestled the thing out of its cubby. It did not want to move from its bed, but I wasn’t going to take NO for an answer. I managed to turn off the water before grabbing an armful of towels and the mop and asking the fridge to dance. We sloshed and twirled and I mopped and wiped. Now, the forlorn and lifeless fridge is sitting in the middle of the kitchen waiting for the appliance morgue van to take it away.
I hadn’t even had my second cup of coffee yet.
A new fridge is coming this afternoon.
Growing up in Skagit Valley, Washington with its verdant farmland gave Kathy Guthormsen an appreciation for the promise and beauty of nature’s bounty. The Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges and old growth forests offered the magic of things unseen and fostered her fertile imagination.
Kathy’s writing has been published several times on The Write Spot Blog and in four The Write Spot anthologies.
Her Halloween story, “Come, Calls the Demon” won first place in the Petaluma Argus Courier’s Halloween Story Contest in October2020.
Her book, The Story of Jazz and Vihar, is available from your local bookseller.
When she isn’t writing, Kathy volunteers at the Bird Rescue Center in Santa Rosa, California, working with and presenting resident raptors as part of their education and outreach program. Walking around with a hawk or an owl on her fist is one of her favorite pastimes.
Kathy lives in northern California with her husband, one psychotic cat, a small flock of demanding chickens, and a pond full of peaceful koi. She maintains a blog, Kathy G. Space, where she occasionally posts essays, short stories, and fairy tales.
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Quiet Writing
“Quiet writing isn’t a genre, it’s more like a style and an approach. For creative nonfiction, it’s narrative that focuses on everyday moments, employs keen observation, and includes details and imagery to demonstrate and investigate the human experience. It reads quiet but still carries the tension and conflict that is fundamental to good storytelling.” — Andrea A. Firth
Excerpted from Quiet Writing: Start with an Everyday Moment, Brevity Blog Post, April 23, 2025
Andrea A. Firth is an editor at Brevity Blog.
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Kangaroo Words . . . Prompt #863
Photo by Valeriia Miller on Pexels.com A word that contains a synonym:
masculine = male
honorable = noble
blossom = bloom
action = act
balderash = blah
damsel = dame
dazzle = daze
addlepated = addled
aggravated = grated
breathe = be
cartoon = art
chocolate = cocoa
falsified = lied
Writing Prompt: Use kangaroo words in your writing.
Find other kangaroo words.
Inspired from San Diego Writers, Inc Facebook post
Just Write!
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On my next birthday . . . Prompt #862
On my next birthday, I will be (___) years old.
It’s a big deal, because . . .
It’s not a big deal, because . . .
If neither money nor health/mobility were issues, here’s how I would celebrate my birthday . . .
At my age, my parents . . . . or my grandparents . . .
Just Write!
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Hero’s or Heroine’s Journey . . . Prompt #861
Brief definition: A hero or heroine goes on an adventure, is victorious, and is transformed.
This can be fiction or memoir.
Examples:
Dorothy in Wizard of Oz
Kerrin in Amoran, recently published by Debra Koehler
If you were to write a story of your life, or a real person’s life, or your fictional character life as a hero’s or heroine’s journey, what would the lowlights be?
The highlights?
What obstacle did you or your character overcome?
Write a scene where there is a conflict: Someone wants something. There is an obstacle.
Does the character get what they want?
Prompt: Write a scene involving a conflict or overcoming an obstacle.
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Walk In Your Character’s Shoes . . . Prompt #860
Writing Prompt: Use a situation from real life.
Or: Make up something that could have happened with either a real person or a fictional character.
Prepare to write:
Get into the head of the character, real or fictional, that you want to write about. This could be a younger version of yourself.
See that character.
Notice their skin. Is it youthful? Smooth? Wrinkly? Sagging?
Notice their hair: Color, style, neat, messy
Look into their eyes, notice the main color, the subtle colors. Do their eyes look tired? Energetic? Hopeful? Hopeless?
How do they sound? Clear voice? Raspy? Slow talker? Fast talker?
What type of personality are they?
Usually happy?
Cheerful?
Grumpy?
Modest?
Full of themselves?
How does that person walk?
How do they move?
Become that person, that character. It could be a younger you.
Walk around as if you are the person you are going to write about.
Pantomime an action, or activity, the character might do.
Fully embody that person.
Walk around for about 3 minutes.
As you walk, imagine you are the character you have in mind.
Feel that character in your body.
After walking, write about what you just experienced.
Then, write a conversation or an interaction from real life or imagination, with the character you just inhabited.
Possible sentence starts:
You always . . .
I hate it when you . . .
I love when you . . .Why didn’t you . . .
Remember when . . .
I thought . . . and then I learned . . .
In my mind, the trouble started when . . .
This exercise was inspired by author and writing teacher B. Lynn Goodwin.
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Amoran: Book One of the Amoran Chronicles
“Amoran: Book One of the Amoran Chronicles,” by Debra Koehler, reviewed by Jessica Fahey
Debra Koehler’s Amoran: Book One of the Amoran Chronicles is a richly layered blend of domestic realism and metaphysical fantasy, a story that begins in a perfectly ordinary New England household and expands into an extraordinary multiverse. It’s a novel about rediscovery of self, of purpose, and of unseen worlds that lie just beyond the veil of perception. What begins as the story of a harried mother juggling family, work, and forgotten dreams evolves into an odyssey across dimensions, infused with wonder, humor, and emotional truth.
Amoran explores the tension between the mundane and the mystical. Kerrin’s life in Glenwood Falls, marked by school runs, marital banter, and afternoon tea, embodies the small comforts and quiet frustrations of midlife. Yet Koehler uses that ordinariness as fertile ground for transformation. The novel poses the question: what if the life we consider ordinary is only one version of reality? The “vortex” connecting Earth and Amoran becomes a potent metaphor for midlife awakening, the recognition that there are dimensions within us we’ve yet to explore.Koehler weaves in classic fantasy motifs, guardians, portals, and ancient prophecies, but grounds them in modern emotional realism. It’s this juxtaposition, heroism amid domestic practicality, that makes Amoran stand out in a crowded genre.
The novel’s prose balances light humor with moments of lyrical description. Underneath the fantasy, Koehler explores universal themes: the rediscovery of purpose, the interplay of science and spirituality, and the enduring power of choice.
Amoran is both comforting and exhilarating. It’s a story of awakening told with humor, compassion, and a touch of cosmic mystery.It’s the rare fantasy novel that not only whisks you away to another world but leaves you more deeply rooted in your own.
Debra Koehler will share her writing journey at Writers Forum, from believing she couldn’t possibly be imaginative enough to write fiction to producing a four-book fantasy series.
She will share tips on how to keep going with your writing project even when you get so fed up you want to throw it away. Which she did. Multiple times. Only to pull it out of the recycling bin, smooth out the pages, and keep going.
Debra will also cover how using intuition to trust her story, as well as her writing process, helped her move beyond the setbacks and blocks that can be part of any writer’s journey.
I hope you can join us at Writers Forum, February 2026.
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A December Memory . . . Prompt #859
Writing Prompt:
Write a December memory.
#justwrite #iamawriter #iamwriting
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Keeping the memory . . . Prompt #858
In “Giving Up The Ghost” by Samantha Rose, Sam explores the possibility of having a relationship with someone after they die.
Writing Prompt:
If you have lost a loved one, in what ways have you continued the relationship?
Or
Write about someone who has passed as if you were introducing them.
For example, “This is my grandmother, she sews all her clothes and makes noodles from scratch.”
Bring this person to life as if they were in the room, or right around the corner.