Prompts

Write What Is True

“Don’t write what sounds clever, write what’s true.” —Ethan Canin Excerpted from “Novelist Curtis Sittenfeld Thinks Middle Age is Underrated,” by Lane Florsheim, The Wall Street Journal, March 1-2, 2025 Sittenfeld continued with, “That’s good advice for writing, but it’s also good advice for how to be a person. It can be hard to be sincere, but I think you have a much greater chance of connection with others if you are.” Note From Marlene: You know what I say . . . Just Write! But, what if you can’t remember what’s true? “Write as honestly as you can about whatever it is.” Abigail Thomas “Perhaps” is another blog post that might help when you can’t quite remember exactly what happened. You know what to do . . .Just Write!

Prompts

Break-up Letter . . . Prompt #828

Writing Prompt: Write a break-up letter to something, or someone who brings tension into your life. Prompt from Rebecca Evans and Gayle Brandeis, Musings & Movement Workshop. Rebecca will be the Writers Forum Presenter on April 15 and April 22. Free on Zoom 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm Pacific Topic: Crafting Flash in Creative Nonfiction “Unlock your superpower through conveying deep truths and universal human emotions in just a few short paragraphs.”

Guest Bloggers

Perhaps

Note from Marlene: “Perhaps” is one of my favorite words. It’s an easy method of offering alternative ways of thinking. If you are writing a memoir and aren’t sure of the details, you could write, “Perhaps it happened this way.” If you are conjecturing, “perhaps” is a gentle way of saying, “It could have happened like this.” Here’s what Guest Blogger Lisa Knopp has to say about “Perhapsing.” At some point, writers of creative nonfiction come to a roadblock or dead end in our writing, where we don’t have access to the facts we need to tell our story or to sustain our reflection with depth and fullness. If only it was ethical to just make something up, we might think, or to elaborate a bit on what we know. But of course, then we wouldn’t be writing creative nonfiction. It might appear that our choices in such cases are…

Sparks

Dancing Through Life

Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer’s voice on the page. Dancing Through Life By Diane Dupuis Dancing can transport you as you get lost in the music and lyrics, simply connecting with the beat, and potentially learning how truly magnificent our bodies are. We are all born to dance. Look at children. They dance in their seats long before they can walk. They don’t even need music. Unfortunately, as we grow, we learn to be self-conscious or feel “not good enough.” Many people stop dancing when the joy is gone, and all they feel is pressure. Added to that is the pressure of having the “perfect” form and the “perfect” dancer body.   Some dance classes can add the stress of competition or feeling the need to fit in. Many studies have highlighted the amazing health benefits of dancing. Not only is it good for your heart…

Just Write

Forwards and Backwards . . . Prompt #827

I bet you do this and perhaps don’t know it has an official name, or many names . . . Words that create new words when spelled backward are called: heteropalindromes, semordnilaps, semi-palindromes, half-palindromes, reversgrams, mynoretehs, reversible anagrams, word reversals, or anadromes. The term “semordnilap” is a playful invention. Though the term is relatively modern, the concept has been used for centuries. Lewis Carroll is known for creating “Semordnilap” (the reverse of Palindrome).   Examples of semordnilaps are found in the works of James Joyce, particularly “Finnegans Wake” (1939). Joyce was known for his experimental use of language, and “Finnegans Wake” is filled with complex puns, wordplay, and linguistic tricks. Although the book primarily focuses on palindromes and complex word formations, it also features instances where words and phrases take on new meanings when reversed or rearranged. Joyce’s innovative approach to language helped cement semordnilaps as a legitimate and intriguing form…