This holiday season . . . Prompt #697
What would you appreciate seeing or happening this holiday season? #justwrite #amwriting #iamawriter
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The 7 Secrets of Essential Speaking
“The 7 Secrets to Essential Speaking: Find Your Voice, Change Your Life,” by Dr. Doreen Downing Review by Lee Glickstein This is the definitive book for solving public speaking anxiety. Most every book about getting over public speaking anxiety comes down to performance techniques, some version of “fake it till you make it.” But this only works for people who have a capacity for faking. The rest of us need an organic way through that gently taps into our essential authenticity. Step by step, Dr. Doreen Downing lights up that path with easy-to-read clarity, compassion, and emotionally intelligent insights. Lee Glickstein is founder of Speaking Circles International and author of “Be Heard Now! Tap Into Your Inner Speaker and Communicate with Ease.” He works with clients ranging from professional communicators to “non-speakers” with severe stage fright, and is committed to facilitating ease, power and effectiveness for anyone who needs to or…
Presence and Connection
Guest Blogger Dr. Doreen Downing talks about public speaking, especially for writers. As a writer, you may be able to put words on a page, but … do you have the confident voice to access your words when you must speak in public? If you don’t feel confident, and if you feel anxiety, doubt yourself, hold yourself back, then what you write won’t reach as many ears or as many hearts as you’d like. When I ask my clients what holds them back from feeling at ease speaking about their work, the answer is always fear. And, bottom line, it’s the fear of being judged. It’s true that a judge could be sitting in the audience, listening for your mistakes, and counting your um’s, but more likely than not, the judge that criticizes you the most is perched right inside your own head. In fact, you could be your own…
Have fun with clichés . . . Prompt #690
Let’s play with clichés. It goes like this: I’ll write some clichés with missing words. You get to fill in the missing words. It’s sort of like Mad Libs. For example: More than one way to skin a cat becomes: More than one way to [verb] a [noun]. Ready? There are no wrong answers! It’s [verb ending in “ing”] [noun] and [noun] You can’t [verb] a [noun] by its [noun] The [noun] [verb] always [adjective or noun] on the other [noun] [Verb] your [noun] right It’s an uphill [noun] [Verb] between the [plural noun] A [noun] is only as [verb] as its weakest [noun] A [noun] and his [noun] are soon [verb, past tense] A [noun] of a different [noun] A [noun] of a [number] [verb] begins with the first [verb] Whatever responses you came up are fine. Can you use any of your re-imagined cliches in your writing? Clichés…
Connecting The Dots . . . Prompt #689
In works of fiction, we think of “characters.” When writing memoir, we think “real people.” Let’s experiment with writing about real people as if they were characters in fiction. Think of someone you know that you would like to spend some time writing about. You can also do this for your fiction characters, if you are working on a fiction project. Make a three-column list. Column 1 What I know Column 2 How I know it Column 3 How to show it Column 1 Write one or two-word descriptions about someone. Column 2 How you know these characteristics. For example, if the person is described as cheap, you might write, “contributes only $20, no matter his actual share, at a group dinner.” Column 3 Jot down short notes on how you might show these characteristics In the case of the cheap friend, “brings his teabag to use at restaurants.” Connecting…
Writing Through a Book’s Mushy Middle
“Advice on Writing Through a Book’s Mushy Middle” By Judy Bolton-Fasman A eulogy I wrote for my father expanded into journal entries and eventually my book, “ASYLUM: A Memoir of Family Secrets.” I long dreamt that those loose collection of journal entries might become a book, but for many years they were arc-less and therefore not coalescing. There was no discernible beginning, middle, and end. But those entries, the impetus to start a writing project—I wouldn’t dare call it a book at the time—formed my literary North Star. As Emily Dickinson wrote: “I am out with lanterns looking for myself.” I searched for myself in every corner of my memory, soul, in every rare photo I had, in every journal entry I wrote, and in notes I jotted down. In that process, I found profound, surprising things about myself and the other protagonists in my life story. One of the…
3 Things I’ve Learned About Storytelling (and Life) from Performing Narrative Nonfiction
Guest Blogger Anastasia Zadeik writes: The bar is hushed. I stand at the podium, bright lights partially obscuring the crowd. I see a blur of faces and blank spaces, hear ice clinking in a glass somewhere to my right and murmurs from the back of the room where drinks are being ordered and served. I am about to start speaking when I remember a tip I was given by my first performance coach, Jon. “Before you begin,” he said, “take a deep breath and remind yourself to . . . slow . . . down.” This, I have found, is good advice and, as Oscar Wilde famously said, “The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on” so… 1. Before you start a story (or anything new)—take a deep breath and remind yourself to slow down. I begin to read the narrative nonfiction piece printed on the…
American Dirt
I heard about “American Dirt” and the controversies surrounding it. When my friend gave me a copy, I thought, “Here’s my chance to form my own opinion.” This is a story of Lydia and her son, Luca, fleeing Acapulco and their hope for a better life in the United States. In my opinion, Jeanine Cummins did a skillful job keeping tension high throughout the story. It’s a difficult subject matter, of course, but, I think, good writing. It made me think of the mother/child bond and how fiercely protective a mother can be. The characters felt real to me. It was an eye-opener with details about risk, escape, and how to (illegally) get across the Mexico/U.S. border. The story made me appreciate my easy life and grateful for what I have. It also made me aware and empathetic for people who risk their lives to come here. This book is…
Flowed beautifully . . . Prompt #668
Write about a time, or an event, that flowed beautifully. Maybe it was a trip or a visit that was perfect. You could also write about music, art, or any creative endeavor that you cannot forget. Or write about something you read, or something you wrote, that conveyed a message succinctly and engagingly. Today’s writing prompt is inspired by the Writers Digest Review of “The Write Spot: Musings and Ravings From a Pandemic Year.” “This book is exemplary in its voice and writing style. It has a unique voice, and the writing style is consistent throughout. The style and tone are also consistent with or will appeal to readers of a variety of genres. Because this is a collection of different voices, the styles and rhythms are unique to each author. Yet they all flow beautifully, conveying their message succinctly and engagingly.” Note from Marlene: Why yes, I do find…
You Think You Know Me . . . Prompt #663
Writing prompts inspired by the June 5, 2022 interview with Kevin Powell and Dr. Adrian Arancibia. Prompt #1: You think you know me, but you don’t know . . . Prompt #2: Same as first prompt, but this time write in your parent’s voice, or from your parent’s perspective, Or: Write from the point of view of Someone Important in your life. Write as if your mother or father or Important Person were writing, “You think you know me, but what you don’t know . . . #justwrite #iamwriting #iamawriter