Writing Prompt:
The next thing I want to do . . .
Just Write!
#justwrite #iamawriter #iamwriting
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On My Mind . . . Prompt #640
Today’s Writing Prompt:
What’s really on my mind . . .
Just Write!~
#justwrite #iamawriter #iamwriting
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Instructions for See’s Candy: A Love Song Learned from My Mother
Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer’s voice on the page.
Instructions for See’s Candy: A Love Song Learned from My Mother
By Susy Pareto
“Life is a box of chocolates. Here’s how you do it,” she said without another word.
Pick up a piece.
chocolate filling
marzipan
truffle
brickle
Pause to note the smooth, warm texture between thumb and finger.Now, bring it to your mouth,
And slowly,
steadily,
bite down.Teeth cut through the buttery darkness
Like cutting blades on a garden clipper
The sweetness seeps out like sap
covers the tongue
coats the palate
transforms the sides into
cool
creamy chocolate-y cocoa-y
truffle-y nougat-y praline-y
other-worldly
let-me-lie-down and dreamil-yEyes closed.
Nothing exists but mouth,
And tongue,
twirling, swirling, luring
All thoughts into one luscious lump of pleasure.
Chocolate.And I want you again, and again, and again
A lifelong love affair, long after she’s gone.
Susy Pareto writes, gardens and lives in Petaluma, California. A former translator, she spent many years in Europe and holds a BA in Design and an MA in Linguistics. Her favorite pieces are as yet unpublished.
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The Freedom of Freewrites
The freedom to write whatever you want.
Writing freely is like soaring with no limitations.
Freewrites can lead to:
~ Ruminating, resulting in new thoughts.
~ Discovery, leading to innovative realizations
~ Revelations, finding the “aha”
~ Exciting, uncover fresh ideas
~ Jubilations, the joy of making connections
Writing prompts can help generate writing.
There are over 800 writing prompts on The Write Spot Blog, as well as a list of places where you can submit your writing.
Just Write!
#justwrite #iamwriting #iamawriter
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Riddled with Arrows
Riddled with Arrows is an online literary journal dedicated to writing about writing.
“We seek (short) metafiction, ars poetica, and writing that celebrates the process and product of writing as art. No restrictions on genre or form, so long as the work is about writing, straight up.”
Thank you, Guy Biederman, for letting me know about Riddled with Arrows.
Guy’s writing, Affordable Shakespeare is in the 5.1 issue of Riddled with Arrows.
#amwriting #justwrite #iamawriter
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A place you miss. Prompt #639
Image by Brigette Bruns Nobel Write about a place you miss.
Or a place you have strong feelings about.
Or a place you would like to be.
Just Write!
#iamwriting #justwrite #iamawriter
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Inspiration
Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer’s voice on the page.
Inspiration
By Brenda Bellinger
Toward the end of his life, my father, who used to enjoy painting, would often say he couldn’t “get in the mood” or “just lost interest.” His easel stood waiting, a blank canvas in place and a table of brushes and paints nearby.Sometimes, writing can feel that way, as though you’re engaged in a stare down with a blank screen. Which of you is going to win? You can wait to be inspired (it might be a while), you can use a writing prompt or you can just let your thoughts spill onto the page in a stream-of-consciousness fashion and see what shape they take.
The thing about inspiration is that it’s bound to strike at an inopportune moment like when you’re in the shower or you’re driving or you’re in that liminal space between barely awake and soundly asleep. Just in case the stars align, and it happens to strike when I’m ready and waiting for it, I always carry a small notebook and pen with me.
We recently joined our son and his family for a day at Angel Island in the middle of San Francisco Bay. The weather was perfect and the ride over on the ferry smooth. They had reserved a campground for the evening and loaded some of their camping gear on a two-seater bicycle. Our almost six-year-old granddaughter alternated between riding on the bike and walking alongside. We were walking together enjoying our view of the bay when she said something about a blade of grass “swishing” in the breeze. She froze in her tracks, bicycle helmet still on her head and said “Nana, I need to stop right here and write a poem.”
I loved how we all moved over to the side of the path and allowed this to happen. She found a place in the grass and sat down next to her mom. I handed her my notebook and pen and for just a moment, the entire world seemed to pause as a small poem about a butterfly emerged from the pure chrysalis of a child’s mind.
Brenda Bellinger’s work has appeared in Small Farmer’s Journal, Mom Egg Review, Persimmon Tree, THEMA, the California Writers Club Literary Review and in various anthologies, including The Write Spot: Reflections, and The Write Spot: Musings and Ravings From a Pandemic Year (available at your local bookseller and at Amazon).
Her first novel, Taking Root, a young adult story of betrayal and courage, is available through most local bookstores and on Amazon.
Note from Marlene: Brenda’s Blog is a collection of thoughtful and entertaining reflections on what matters.
“Inspiration,” was originally posted as “Carpe Momentum” on Brenda’s Blog, February 22, 2022.
#amwriting #justwrite #iamawriter
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Green . . . Prompt #638
Writing Prompt: Green
“Green, the color of life, renewal, nature, and energy, is associated with meanings of growth, harmony, freshness, safety, fertility, and environment.
Green is also traditionally associated with money, finances, banking, ambition, greed, jealousy, and wall street.
The color green has healing power and is understood to be the most restful and relaxing color for the human eye to view.
Green also stands for new growth and rebirth, common in the spring season when all of the plants are coming back to life with fresh growth and life after the cold winter months.
The color green affects us physically and mentally in several different ways. Green is soothing, relaxing, and youthful.
Green is a color that helps alleviate anxiety, depression, and nervousness. Green also brings with it a sense of hope, health, adventure, and renewal, as well as self-control, compassion, and harmony.
Additional words that represent different shades, tints, and values of the color green: emerald, sea green, sea foam, olive, olive drab, pea green, grass green, apple, mint, forest, lawn green, lime, spring green, leaf green, aquamarine, beryl, chartreuse, fir, kelly green, pine, moss, jade, sage, yellow-green, sap, viridian.”—Bourncreative
More about the color green from Dr. Oz, The Good Life magazine, Aug-Sept 2014:
Green room
The waiting area where actors and TV guests lounge around before they’re needed onstage is called the green room.
Greenhorn
Because green is the shade of unripe fruit and young trees, oxen with immature horns were called greenhorns. By the 17th century, that term was adapted to refer to inexperienced people.
Green with envy
Thank Shakespeare for helping to popularize the linking of green with jealousy. In the playwright’s tragedy Othello. envy is called “the green-eyed monster.”
Writing prompt: Green
Just Write!
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The Smell of Old, Ancient Time
Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer’s voice on the page.
The Smell of Old, Ancient Time
By Mary E. O’Brien
Old smells like perfume
That’s past its life cycle
The scent you get when you are
Hoping for exquisite but discover stale.
Old is stale sheets that have absorbed
The fevers and worries
And peaceful slumbers of
The maximum number of humans.
Old time has absorbed into its poresA thousand smiles, given in vain
To cheer or to greet,
Unreturned.
Old time is a black satin circle,Etched with circular lines that contain,
Miraculously, violins piercing the sorry soul
Or wandering heart.
Old, ancient time is beige sandCradling the bones of saints and gladiators
Clinging to crevices to keep their shame and secrets in the grave
Which we all have a right to.
Old, ancient time smells like a baby’s hair.The very start of time carries the
Baby’s suckling breath
Carries the breath of a babe from dawn to dusk of mankind.
Mary E. O’Brien is a Retired Trophy Wife (RTW) from the Pacific Northwest. She has volunteered for the Court Appointed Special Advocate program, founded local therapeutic hospital humor programs, and supported various other non-profits and do-goodery.
Enjoying the artistry of music, the music of words, the words of healing, and the healing of art, Mary is spending her pandemic hibernation immersing herself in art journaling, watercolor and writing.
She lives in Idaho with her tolerant husband near her comedic grandchildren, and is loved by an elderly, sugared golden retriever.
#amwriting #justwrite #iamawriter
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Songs . . . Prompt #637
Song titles and song lyrics can be beneficial in producing thought-provoking writing.
Click on the link to read the lyrics or hear the song.
The currently popular “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” from the movie “Encanto.”
Inspired by talking with a washroom attendant, “She Works Hard For The Money,” by Donna Summer.
“The Very Thought of You,” by Nat King Cole
“It’s Now or Never,” by Elvis Presley
“What a Wonderful World,” by Louis Armstrong
“Dancing in the Streets,” by Martha & The Vandellas
“Somewhere over the Rainbow,” by Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwoʻole
Be inspired. Just Write!