Guest Blogger Jan Pezarro shares what she learned about beats, using her experience with lung cancer to illustrate physical, emotional, and setting beats. I hope you enjoy this entertaining and informative writing about different kinds of beats as much as I did. — Marlene Jan Pezarro: “A few beats missing here.” In the first year of my MFA program, after 40 years in business and on my way to fulfill a long-held ambition to write a book, my mentor added this comment to my submission. I was pretty sure she wasn’t referring to golden or purple beets, but neither did I know exactly what she meant by “beats.” My knowledge gap of storycraft tools and techniques was formidable. Lectures on structure, place, scene, and character sent me repeatedly to the internet for supplemental tutoring. The process reminded me of trying to read a text in the original Greek by translating…
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.
The Right Thing . . . Prompt #735
Write about a time you did the right thing, even though it was difficult and you didn’t really want to do it. Or, write about a time you didn’t do the right thing. What happened?
What is your gift? Prompt #734
Someone said to me: Everyone has a gift. What is your gift? #justwrite #amwriting #iamwriter
If you could learn a new skill . . . Prompt #733
If you could learn a new skill, what would it be? #justwrite #amwriting #iamawriter
Stressed? Sensory Awareness might be the answer for healing.
Today’s Guest Blogger Jean Grant Sutton writes about why we are stressed. The Great ‘Post Covid’ Unwinding It has become so very clear to me of the havoc that has been wreaked on our world from the Covid Pandemic. Of course, for most of us the disruption to our financial stability is still having ripple effects. For those in small business or even those that lost jobs or needed to let their job go because of the lockdown may still be struggling to get back above water. Where I am experiencing the most clarity of devastation is in our human nervous system. With the knowledge of physiology and how we are wired in our brainstem for survival, I personally feel and witness in others the huge contraction that was triggered by this threatening virus. Huge repercussions to many connected systems take place when the stress response is activated as it…
Valuable Lesson . . . Prompt #732
Things don’t always go your way. Sometimes the blooper is not your fault. Other times, you did a dumb, silly thing. Did you learn a lesson? Did you make the same mistake again? #justwrite #amwriting #iamawriter
Rock Climbing
Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer’s voice on the page Rock Climbing by Su Shafer Not looking down is easier when you’re struggling up. The focus is ALL up the next up finger hold – up foot hold – up carabiner solid – secure up. The hands know how to find the hammer without looking. Down is not in the picture. Up is in careful, methodical inches step by step hold by hold the goal is ahead edging closer and closer. It’s only when you get to the top that you realize how far down is to get home. The dizzy certainty is that INSTANT DOWN is imminent and permanent. CHOREOGRAPHED DOWN Is trying to control the Law of Gravity with sweaty hands and and a heart mde of lead,…
Just Walk!
Guest Blogger Suzanne Murray suggests walking to inspire creativity. WALKING HELPS YOUR CREATIVITY When you are engaged in a project and feel the creative inspiration has dried up, take a break. Anything that occupies the consciousness mind in a physical way can open you to the flow of fresh ideas and insights. Doing the dishes or taking a shower are good ways. One of my favorites is taking a walk. You could simply stroll around the block or walk deep into nature. I have not been alone in my awareness that walking opens creative channels. There is a long list of well known creatives who walked to allow ideas and connections to flow. Charles Darwin, Virginia Woolf, William Wordsworth, Nikola Tesla, Aristotle, Sigmund Freud, Thomas Jefferson, Ernest Hemingway, Charles Dickens, Beethoven to name but a few. Scientific studies have now found that creative problems can indeed be solved by walking,…
I am curious about . . . Prompt #731
Today’s Prompt: I am curious about . . . #just write #iamawriter #iamwriting
Has your comfort zone changed? Prompt #730
Has your comfort zone changed? Are you more, or less, tolerant than you used to be? Are you more, or less, comfortable in crowds? What did you used to do that you don’t do now? What do you do now that you didn’t used to do? #justwrite #amwriting #iamawriter