Guest Blogger Susan Hagen wants to tell you something… After a long weekend together, I wrote this to honor the courage and heart of the students at my fall writing retreat. I offer it again here to all of you: What I want to tell you is that you are not like most people. Most people would not be awakened at dawn by the beating of a drum and feel happy about it. Most people would not hurry through their yogurt and bacon to climb a hill and sit all day on a threadbare couch. Most people would not spend four days putting words in a notebook or listening deeply to the words other people spent four days putting in a notebook – and pay for the privilege. They would not weep in front of strangers, or talk about their sex lives, or say truth be told, I’m glad my…
Your story is buried treasure.
Writing is therapeutic. It saves lives. Your truths are eager to come out. Let them spill onto the page, and see what doors writing opens for you. Your story is buried treasure. — B. Lynn Goodwin: B. Lynn Goodwin is the owner of Writer Advice, and the author of You Want Me to Do WHAT? Journaling for Caregivers, available on Amazon. A former teacher, she conducts workshops and writes reviews for Story Circle Network, www.storycircle.org and InspireMeToday, www.inspiremetoday.com/. She’s working on a YA novel and brainstorming a memoir. Note from Marlene: Today’s post is dedicated to Don Riley. A brilliant man, loving husband, devoted father, and adoring grandfather . . . family man and wonderful friend to many. His writing was deep, powerful, insightful and inspiring. His truth did indeed spill onto the page. He will be missed.
Focusing the camera. . . Prompt #37
Write about an incident that happened between you and another person from your point of view. Write for about 20 minutes. Move the camera lens, focusing on the other person, write about this same incident from the other person’s point of view.
POV is like a photographer’s lens
POV – choosing a point of view is one of the first things to decide when writing your story. In “Fiction in Focus,” January 2014 issue of Writer’s Digest magazine, Tanya Egan Gibson compares pov with how photographers frame their subjects. She writes, “frame your story, focusing readers’ attention and leading them through the storytelling picture you’ve created, scene by scene.” Gibson writes that using pov as a lens allows you to you to go deep in describing your characters and their actions, making your manuscript stronger. For example, “the way a character sees the world tells the reader a great deal about them. If your protagonist sees rainbows, puppies and waterfalls as gloomy, menacing and boring, your reader will come to the conclusion that the character is depressed, without you having to come out and say so. This follows the old adage of showing, rather than telling.” You have…
What happened, from your point of view. . . Prompt #36
Today’s writing prompt was inspired from the January 2003 issue of The Writer magazine, ”On Writing Personal Essays,” by Barbra Abercrombie. Make a list of issues and experiences, important and trivial in your life right now. What frustrated you in the past month? What made you laugh or cry? What made you lose your temper? What was the worst thing that happened? The best? The most disturbing and weird? Write: Choose one thing from your list and write about it. Write whatever comes to mind. Write what you would really like to say to the other people involved. Write what happened from your point of view.
Hook ’em with the lead. . . — Erma Bombeck
“Hook ’em with the lead. Hold ’em with laughter. Exit with a quip they won’t forget.” — Erma Bombeck
Erma Bombeck Writing Competition
Erma Bombeck Writing Competition is now open! Competition closes February 17, 2014 at 8 A.M. (EST) Capture the essence of Erma’s writings and you could win $500 and a free registration to the Erma Bombeck Writers Workshop! Personal essay must be 450 words or less. Submission guidelines click here.
Guest Blogger Amanda Socci: Getting Inspired by Food Boxes!
Guest Blogger Amanda Socci: Getting Inspired by Food Boxes! If there is one thing that writers thirst for, it is inspiration. We have a constant need for things to speak to us, create magic for us, and fill our souls with ideas and information that will make us burst out of our skin and onto the paper. Inspiration is everywhere, but sometimes, writers tend to overlook the obvious, hoping to find deeper meanings in things. Today, I’d like to take this opportunity to lighten things up a bit by talking to you about an unlikely source of inspiration that appears to be boring or meaningless, but really, is just the opposite. That’s right, I’m here to tell you that food packaging is a friend to writers. All kinds of food packaging is interesting, but most specifically, I’d like to chat about cereal boxes. When you go grocery shopping, are you…
Fantasize for a moment. . . Prompt #35
Fantasize for a moment. Money is no object. Time and place are no object. Give yourself an imaginary gift. What would it be?
WRITER ADVICE – 9th FLASH PROSE CONTEST
B. Lynn Goodwin’s Writer Advice seeks flash fiction, memoir and creative non-fiction running 750 words or less. Enlighten, dazzle, and delight us. Finalists receive responses from all judges. DEADLINE: April 18, 2014.