![\"victorian-house\"](\"http:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Victorian-House-1.jpg\")
<\/a>Part 1<\/strong>: Quotes from Veronika Layne Gets The Scoop<\/em> by Julia Park Tracey.<\/p>\n“I wasn’t the first reporter to arrive at the scene, but I wasn’t the last, either.”<\/p>\n
“A Victoria house \u2014 one of those multihued beauties with turrets, fish-scale shingles, gingerbread trim, iron railings, a weathervane, a trim of every description on widows’ walks and sun porches \u2014a majestic painted queen from the late 1800s \u2014burned like a marshmallow too close to the coals.”<\/p>\n
“You finally get a story, the story<\/em>, and it changes before the ink is even on the page. And then it’s past, it’s history, and there’s not enough to cover for the following issue. On to the next assignment.”<\/p>\n Note from Marlene:<\/strong> When you look at writing prompts, you can look at the entire quote, or take a section, or a word and write from there. For example, you could write about “I wasn’t the first to arrive at the party.”<\/p>\n The second quote intrigued me because I love the description of “burned like a marshmallow too close to the coals.”\u00a0 It seems to me that not many people would think of comparing a house fire to roasting marshmallows.<\/p>\n Part 2:<\/strong> Lines from Home at the Edge of the World<\/em>, Alameda Poet Laureate Julia Park Tracey,\u00a0 Inaugural Poem<\/p>\n There are houses down your shaded streets \u2013 Gentlemen strolled in spats, ladies swung their parasols, Note from Marlene:<\/strong> In your collection of writing, mark places of exquisite writing. You might be able to use these nuggets later . . . in a story or a poem.<\/p>\n Julia Park Tracey<\/a> is an award-winning author, journalist and blogger.\u00a0Tracey was the founding editor, and later, publisher, of\u00a0The Alameda Sun<\/em>. Her work has appeared in Salon, Good Housekeeping, Scary Momm<\/em>y and Thrillist<\/em>. She is the Poet Laureate of Alameda, California, and holds a BA in journalism and MA in English. Her publications include three novels (Tongues of Angels<\/em> and two Veronika Layne<\/em> mysteries); two biographies, I\u2019ve Got Some Lovin\u2019 to Do: Diaries of a Roaring Twenties Teen <\/em>and Reaching for the Moon: More Diaries of a Roaring Twenties Teen; <\/em>and Amaryllis: Collected Poems.<\/em><\/p>\n She reads and teaches poetry to all ages and grades, leads literary events citywide, and representing the city at literary events such as Litquake.<\/p>\n Julia will be the Writers Forum<\/a> Presenter on September 15, 2016.<\/p>\n
\nbeneath your oaks, your ginkos, your avenues of palm \u2013
\nLeaded in glass, shingled in fish-scale, spangled with gingerbread,
\nVictorian ladies tarted up for Carnival,
\ntheir history and lore curving like a staircase into view.<\/p>\n
\nbay breezes curling with fog and the clank of halyards, snapping flags. Water, at every turn,
\nglittering to shore, to ship, to ankles and toes.<\/p>\n