Write about a time you had no worries . . . a play-filled time . . . a time you felt free to be you. Does this scene look familiar? You know where it’s from if you’ve been to Maria’s Out West Garage in Petaluma, California. Hi, Maria. 🙂
Author: mcullen
Marlene Cullen is enthusiastic about encouraging people to write, even those who think they can’t write. Her series of books, The Write Spot anthologies, features writing that entertains as well as inspires writing. Every story, vignette, and poem in The Write Spot books include writing prompts motivating readers to become writers.
Marlene hosts The Write Spot Blog, a treasure chest of inspirational gems for writers.
Fulfilling her passion for writing and sharing with others, Marlene has created unique writing environments such as Jumpstart Writing Workshops, where participants often experience transformational changes. Her workshops provide essential elements for successful writing.
Marlene is the founder of Writers Forum of Petaluma, a monthly literary event featuring presenters talking about the craft and business of writing.
Marlene's awarding winning short stories and essays have been published in literary journals, anthologies, and newspapers, including Tiny Lights, Building Bridges, More Bridges, Redwood Writers anthologies, and The Write Spot anthologies.
She is a member of the California Writer's Club.
Guest Blogger Suzanne Murray
We are lucky to have Suzanne Murray as today’s guest blogger, encouraging our writing. Excerpt from Suzanne Murray’s Post, 2/14/2018 Are you feeling uninspired? Has your got-up-and-go got-up-and-went? Say that three times! Then read Suzanne’s inspiring message: FALL IN LOVE WITH CREATIVE PROCESS by Suzanne Murray. A lot of people think that when it comes to creativity, inspiration is the key. Yet those moments of insight or revelation never occur without the willingness to commit to the work and continue to show up. This perseverance is just as important. You get a creative flash. You show up to the work and what wants to be born becomes more clear. Nobel prize winning Canadian short story writer Alice Munro once said, “I threw away all my early writings and it wasn’t because I was the mother of three small children. It was because I was learning my craft and it took…
Wrong Number . . . Prompt #354
Today’s writing prompt: Wrong Number.
If you could invent something . . . Prompt #353
If you could invent something to make your life easier, what would it be?
Obsessions . . . Prompt #352
What are you obsessed with? Write about your obsessions. Photo by Christina Gleason
Favorite time of year. Prompt #351
Spring. Summer. Autumn. Winter. In-between seasons. Write about your favorite time of year.
You think you know them . . . Prompt #350
“You think you know them, these creatures robed in your parent’s skins.” Writing Prompt: Read the excerpt. Copy it in your notebook, if you want. Then see what comes up for you and Just Write! Excerpt from the poem, At the Lake House by Jon Loomis
Brad Yates Inspires Action
Note from Marlene: I have been helped and inspired by Brad Yates and his Tapping Videos. I hope you enjoy reading about his New Year’s Eve experience in Paris. Guest Blogger Brad Yates: Walking with a blind man From time to time we hear stories – or see videos – of differently-abled people doing remarkable things. We may find these stories to be inspiring… and sometimes we might even find them challenging, as we confront how we may have allowed lesser hurdles than theirs to limit our lives. We can allow ourselves to be shamed by these, or let them serve as wake-up calls to stop making excuses. Naturally, I’d guide folks towards the second option. Most of the time, these stories come into our awareness in a fleeting way, and not a personal one. More often, it’s someone we don’t know and will likely never meet, making it less…
Poems for Coffee Anthology
As Ellen Bass says: “Writers and coffee go together like coffee and cream, or coffee and donuts.” Do you have poems in which coffee plays a role? If so, this anthology is for you! Deadline for Submission: February 28, 2018. World Enough Writers seeks poems for its Coffee Poems Anthology edited by Lorraine Healy to be published Winter 2019.
“At the Ice Rink” by Alison Luterman . . . Prompt #349
Today’s writing prompt is a poem by Alison Luterman. When the prompt is a poem, you can write on the theme or the mood of the poem. Or use a stanza, a line, or a word to inspire your writing. Just Write! At the Ice Rink I came here to fail and to fall but not so well as that man careening over the ice sliding into the wall as if into second base shambling up, grinning, like a great bear, and taking off again, saying, over his shoulder, “You’ve got it backwards. Learn to fall first, then skate.” I end up clinging barnacle-like to the sides, inching around the perimeter like a caterpillar. Wall-hugger. Nothing has changed since I was eight and my parents paid for skating lessons in hopes I would become more balanced. Now as then I am wobbling, terrified, feet frozen like blocks of wood…