What is your why?
Why do you do what you do?
Why do you get up in the morning (besides having to go to the bathroom or let the dog or cat out).
What is your why?
Just Write!
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When I was younger . . . Prompt #876
Writing Prompt: When I was younger . . .
Write about whatever memory this brings up.
Just Write!
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I became what I am today . . . Prompt #874
Quote from Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Born in Kabul, Afghanistan. Moved to U.S. in 1980
“I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek. That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking onto that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.”
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Play With Words
“The bright side of working on a second draft is that it gives you the opportunity to play with words. Words are the writer’s pigment. We mix, we measure; we try this combination or that.
Original ideas and thoughts are the single most important element in the creative process. It is up to us, as writers, to give them form and voice and let them soar. While you’re writing and rewriting, remember the importance of the process rather than the end product. When you only focus on making your book marketable, it dampens your enthusiasm and blurs your vision.” — “A Writer’s Journey,” by Maureen Crane Wartski, The Writer, December 2000
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I used to believe . . . Prompt #873
Write about something you believed then found out it wasn’t true.
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Write to please an audience of one . . .
“Elizabeth Berg starts out with a feeling in her head and nothing else. If you’re agonizing over how you might please a particular publisher, Berg has a basic message: Write to please an audience of only one —you.”
Excerpt from “Trusting Herself,” by Ronald Kovach, September 2002, The Writer Magazine
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River of Life . . . Prompt #872
River of Life Visualization . . . floating down a river, noticing life events.
Settle comfortably in your chair. Deep breathe in. Out. Stretch. Roll shoulders.
This visualization is a type of gentle observation, taking a look at twists and turns of our early years.
Imagine you are on a raft, floating down a river. You are safe and secure, able to relax as the current carries you along.
Deep breathe in. Let it out. Take deep breaths as your body wants.
The weather is perfect, lulling you into a sense of ease and well-being.
The air is fresh and invites a nostalgic contentment as you notice what passes by while comfortable on the raft, effortlessly navigating the flow of the river.
As you float along, your mind drifts to your earliest memory.
Take a moment to see your young self.
What are you doing? Who are you with?
Picture this scene as a movie scrolling across your mind.
Now the river widens, broadening your perspective.
Picture another memory from your childhood.
It could be a time around the family table . . . a kitchen table or a coffee table.
Perhaps a memory of a gathering with family members or friends, indoors, or outdoors. Maybe a holiday gathering. Maybe a vacation.
What are you doing? Who are you with?
Deep breathe in. Let it out.
You arrive at the check-out point, disembark from the raft, ready to write. Open to whatever comes up.
Writing Prompt:
Write one of the scenes you just saw in your mind.
Or: Write about another event that happened when you were young.
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Childhood Games . . . Prompt #867
Write about games you played or things you did as a child.
Slinky
Silly putty
Rubik’s cube
Chatty Cathy
Barbie
GI Joe
Mr. Potato Head
Matchbox cars
Hot Wheels
Jump rope
Roller skate
Ping-pong
Spirograph
Etch a Sketch
Magic 8-ball
Jacks
Dodge Ball
Board games
Marbles
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Proofreading
“No matter how many proofreaders one has, there can still be errors/typos. Reading for typos/errors is like a Sherlock Holmes mystery; looking for that stray character lurking in the shadows.” — Janet Pierce
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Can’t Help but Wonder
Can’t Help but Wonder
By Ken Delpit
Can’t help but wonder
What’s to become of us all.
Can’t say it’s a blunder
When it’s done as resolved.Can’t help but remember
In protests of the past,
April or November,
Beaten, jailed, tear-gassed.Can’t help but make note that
Huge prices were paid.
Wasn’t no joke that
A nation’s guts were be-splayed.Can’t help but recall hope,
Despite most precious tolls,
Light cleansed then, like soap,
Baring leaders without souls.Can’t help but recognize
Times are so not the same.
What now affronts open eyes
Seems to carry no blame.Can’t help but lament
Now, leaders duck and cower.
They grease our descent
And, deny us our powerCan’t help but feel helpless
I hate that it’s so
We used to clean up our mess
Now, it’s just part of the flow.Bio:
In the troubled times that opened the twenty-first century, Ken Delpit recalls the troubled times of the 1960s and 1970s.
It would seem that turmoil and protests are book-ending his life. He is struck, not only by the similarities, but even more by the differences between then and now, especially by the differences in how we, as a nation, react to and handle the troubles.