“I was terrified about writing stories about where I came from because I was embarrassed. Truly great writers are not afraid to bare their souls. Sometimes you may feel like: ‘I shouldn’t have put that in there, I don’t want people to think it’s about me or look at me differently.’ Toss those thoughts aside. That’s a mental block. Don’t think about it. Just do it. As long as you write from a place of purity, and it comes from your heart, you can’t go wrong.”—K’wan Foye, interview with Alicia Anstead, October 215 issue of The Writer.
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.
Sensory Detail – Taste
When writing simmers with sensory detail, readers digest the story and perhaps, are satiated with emotionally charged memories. Do you remember dipping graham crackers in milk and eating it quickly before it broke off and became a soggy mess? You might use something like this in a scene where the hero/heroine has just been dumped by a boyfriend/girlfriend. Perhaps your character can’t make decisions. Employ a scene where he taste tests while walking a buffet line; a bite here, a nibble there, unable to settle on a nourishing decision. Employ sensory detail to involve readers in the story’s emotional ingredients. Match emotions with taste receptors: Bitter: She recoiled and didn’t know whether it was from her bitter coffee or his abrupt, “We’re done.” Salty: “The oysters were so fresh they tasted like my tears. I closed my eyes to feel the sensation of the sea.” — Laura Fraser, “Food for…
Ruminate is ready for your submission
ru’mi-nate: to chew the cud; to muse; to meditate; to think again; to ponder Ruminate is an award-winning quarterly literary arts print magazine engaging the Christian faith. Ruminate publishes poetry, short stories, photography, visual art reproductions, short fiction, memoir, creative nonfiction, essays, reviews, and interviews. Ruminate sponsors four contests each year—poetry, short story, nonfiction and visual arts. Ruminate suggests slowing down and paying attention. “We love laughter. And we delight in telling the truth, asking questions, and doing ‘small things with great love,’ as Mother Theresa said.” You are invited to submit your work. Note from Marlene: Writers Forum of Petaluma presenter Rayne Wolfe, October 15, 2015: Newspaper reporter and columnist, Rayne Wolfe will share her methods for identifying sources, mining for quotable gold and turning interviews into stories. Whether you are focusing on non-fiction, fiction, historical fiction or memoir, Rayne will share her tools for enriching all writing by becoming…
Growing up . . . Prompt #188
Start writing with this phrase: “Growing up” . . . and then, just start writing! Today’s writing prompt: Growing up . . .
Things I’ve Learned. . . Prompt #187
Make a list. Write about things you have learned. Today’s Prompt: Things I’ve learned. . .
Writing as an organic process. . .
“Think of writing as an organic, developmental process in which you start writing at the very beginning – before you know your meaning at all – and encourage your words gradually to change and evolve. Only at the end will you know what you want to say or the words you want to say it with.” –Peter Elbow
See your story and tell it.
Relax into your chair. Escort your inner critic . . . your editor out the door. Shed your ideas about what perfect writing means. Give yourself permission to write the worst stuff possible. Writing isn’t about talent, it’s about practice. Creative writing is an act of discovery. Take a deep breath. Relax into your breathing. Rather than write for an audience, write from an instinctual level. Immerse yourself in writing. Let go of your worries. Just let go. Write to satisfy an inner desire and to go to a meaningful place, that’s all your own. Go deeper into the recesses of your mind and really write. Write to get to a powerful level – not for an audience. If you notice thoughts and feelings that cause discomfort, take a deep breath and exhale. Look around the room. Get up and walk to a window, or get a drink of cool,…
100 Word Story
Do you like to write short pieces? If yes, then Grant Faulkner’s 100 word story is for you! From the 100 word story website: “One hundred seems perfect. It’s the basis of percentages, the perfect test score, the boiling point of water (Celsius), purity. Pythagoreans considered 100 as divine because it is the square (10 x 10) of the divine decad (10). Even a Scrabble set has 100 tiles. And yet 100 is a fragment. It’s an arbitrary marker, like the ‘First 100 Days’ of a president’s term—merely a promise of what’s to come, or a whiff of what has passed.” Submit: 100 words … no more or no less. Tell a story, write a prose poem, pen a slice of your memoir, or try your hand at an essay.
Zazzle. . . . Prompt #186
Today’s writing prompt: Zazzle You can write about something that happened to you, something that happened to someone else, or write fiction. I look forward to reading your writing about Zazzle.
Jennifer Lynn Alvarez: The Book You Were Born to Write
Guest Blogger Jennifer Lynn Alvarez writes about The Book You Were Born to Write. I recently read The Martian, by Andy Weir. It’s a unique, thrilling, and detailed survival story described as “Apollo 13 meets Cast Away.” I thoroughly enjoyed the book, in spite of all the math equations and the use of the metric system (English Lit. major here). But I’m not writing about Andy Weir to review his wonderful book, I’m writing about him because of something he said in an interview: “I love reading up on current space research. At some point I came up with the idea of an astronaut stranded on Mars. The more I worked on it, the more I realized I had accidentally spent my life researching for this story.” Andy Weir (Book Browse online interview) You see, Mr. Weir is a self-proclaimed space and science fanatic inspired by the idea of humans…