Suppose you could snap your fingers and be wherever you want to be, where would you go?
Where would you like to be?
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Snap . . . Prompt #681
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Trips and Travel . . . Prompt #680
Are you a detailed planner or spontaneous when you travel?
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Taste of Summer . . . Prompt #679
Photo by Ellen Wu A Taste of Summer is inspired by Ellen Wu and her beautiful plating and photography.
Ellen describes this gorgeous dish:
Greek Yogurt with Summer Fruits
Greek yogurt, figs, strawberries, cherries, gooseberries, raspberries, blueberries.
Chopped pistachios, freeze-dried strawberries.
Raspberry coulis (with Chambord)
Peach coulis (with Peche liqueur)
“The afternoon lighting turned its yellow color to green.”
Prompt: Taste of Summer
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Ghosts . . . Prompt #678
When you are writing and you have more time to write, but you feel ready to stop . . . try to keep going. Push the limits. Push past the urge to go no farther.
Writing Prompt: Play with the word and the concept of “ghost.”
Writing Prompts
Seeing a ghost.
Have you ever seen, or thought you saw, a ghost?
Ghost of a former self
Not a ghost of a chance
Ghost of a smile
Give up the ghost
Caspar, The Friendly Ghost
Relationship (past or present) as a ghost
Rituals as ghosts
Look in a mirror and “see a ghost” . . . see grandmother or grandfather
Ghost writing
Ghost town
Ghosting someone: to cut off all contact abruptly and without explanation, pretending that person doesn’t exist.
Writing Prompt: Ghost
Submit your ghost story to The Ghost Story.
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World Building With Words
“Readers seek the experience of the world through character emotion and consciousness. What we remember about books and movies is the way they made us feel/experience, which is why we crave another story-hit, more, more, more.” — Juneta Key, “A Look at World Building and the Reader Experience”
Juneta elaborates:
Use your character’s emotional attachment to places, things, and feeling of home–longing, or contentment, or discontentment. World building is an external and internal journey with the character.
World building includes using all the senses, to create atmosphere, texture, and attachment: Sight, Smell, Touch, Hearing, Taste, and 6th sense.
STORY EXAMPLE:
Anne of Green Gables L. M. Montgomery uses the senses and emotions in such a way that her world is a character in itself. Read the free Project Gutenberg ebook.
Chapter 1: First paragraph:
“MRS. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow, fringed with alders and ladies’ eardrops and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place; it was reputed to be an intricate, headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods, with dark secrets of pool and cascade; but by the time it reached Lynde’s Hollow it was a quiet, well-conducted little stream, for not even a brook could run past Mrs. Rachel Lynde’s door without due regard for decency and decorum; it probably was conscious that Mrs. Rachel was sitting at her window, keeping a sharp eye on everything that passed, from brooks and children up, and that if she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof.”
You will notice MRS is all capitalized.
Immediately we know she is important to the story.
She relates the character to us via the world building (setting).
Simile and metaphor are the vehicle of setting that create visually and emotionally strong images in our minds. She uses the setting to tell the reader about the character’s attitude, disposition and temperament. The further you read the more she builds on this and strengthens the scene paragraph after paragraph.
Montgomery particularly uses the river to describe and create a parallel impression of the road, specifically the people passing by MRS. Rachel Lynde’s home.
MRS. is a busy body cataloging details while sitting at her window. Through the use of a ferret, as a comparison tool, she demonstrates the trait of persistence for MRS. following every crumb in pursuit of other people’s business.
If you think about it, the senses are triggered in that paragraph even though sound is not mentioned exactly. The sound of flowing water—a river, the sound of people passing by on the road, the sound of children—it’s implied, I don’t know about you but I heard it.
Originally posted 8/15/2022 in Insecure Writer’s Support Group, as mentioned in Anne R. Allen’s Blog… with Ruth Harris (8/7/2022).
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Talent . . . Prompt #674
What talent would you like to have?
Or, what talent do you have that you are proud of?
Dubbed “America’s Funniest Cowgirl,” Karen Quest has been blazing a trail since 1998 with her one-woman award-winning original comedy act, Cowgirl Tricks. Skillful trick roping, impressive whip cracking, outstanding audience rapport and improvisational kooky cowgirl shenanigans have proven wildly popular at venues for audiences of all ages.
Karen’s talents include juggling, clowning, acrobatics, fire-eating, unicycling, and stunt work,
Your turn:
Write about your talents. Or your fictional character’s talents.
Just Write!
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Don’t Rush It
Morgan Baker “Don’t Rush It” by Morgan Baker
I don’t like being late – to classes I teach or the airport to catch a plane. My anxiety meter goes haywire if I haven’t given myself the time to organize before school or when I’m packing to go away. Will I need my swimsuit? What about those shoes? I allow extra time wherever I go, which means I’m usually early.
My stepfather once told my daughter as he drove her to a summer job, “You’re on time if you’re ten minutes early.”
I’ve taken that to heart.
When my daughter and I went to a wedding in Montana a few years ago, we were excited about the event, and to see the big sky landscape we had heard so much about. I didn’t want to feel rushed or anxious, so I allowed for plenty of extra time to get through security and find our gate.
We watched planes taxiing to other gates from the rocking chairs we sat in. For three hours.
But when it comes to my writing, I don’t follow my own advice. I often rush it. I think I’m done way before I really am. My husband, a former journalist and editor, reminds me frequently to slow down, think the piece through, whether it’s an essay or a profile I’m working on. Wait, he says, before sending it out. There are always opportunities to expand or transform my writing.
I don’t always listen. Often, I already have a good sense of what’s working and where I need more, but instead of figuring out the fixes, I get jittery and eager and I send off the piece to trusted readers and editors, hoping they won’t notice the holes.
Not only do they notice, they fall in them.
I encourage the writers in my workshops to take their time. Sit on your work for a day or two, or more, I tell them. If it’s a timely essay, sit on it for a few hours. Wait and see how the work matures over time. Then revisit and revise. Don’t rush. Wait before taking a bite of the cookie that’s just come out of the oven. Don’t burn your mouth.
I spoke with a writer recently who has a book of essays out, and she told me some of the essays took her years to write. Years.
I don’t have years. I want to get my book of essays out now!
I’m a problem solver. I like immediate results. I can usually fix someone else’s challenge, edit their work, or find their lost car key. Helping myself is more perplexing and time consuming.
But when I linger on my pieces, like waiting to bite that hot cookie, it’s always worth it. I might remember another aspect of the topic I want to add in, or recognize a theme I didn’t see before.
I’ve been working on a collection of essays for, yes, years, and I thought I knew their purpose. but recently, I realized I was going in the wrong direction. There was a theme in my work I hadn’t seen earlier, a theme that tied my shorter pieces together from two separate projects. I am now going to select, toss, and revise. Because I’d taken my time with the essays, the theme had time to marinate before it jumped out at me.
Now I’m eager to get going. But I need to heed the yellow light ahead and slow down, take my time, let the pieces simmer, blow on them a little so they’re not so hot and I can hold them.
If I rush to pack, I might forget the shoes I need, or my bathing suit in case there’s a pool. Sometimes I have to unpack and repack to make sure I have everything I need—editing my suitcase like I edit a book. I repack, rolling my clothes instead of folding them. They take up less room that way, and there is more room to add and substitute items. Just as I can revise once more, allowing for expansion and transformation.
“Don’t Rush It” first appeared on Brevity’s Nonfiction blog on June 6, 2022.
Morgan Baker has written for The Boston Globe Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, The Bark, The Bucket, Talking Writing, Cognoscenti, Motherwell, and several times for the Brevity Blog.
Morgan’s debut memoir will be out in Spring 2023 (Ten16 Press).
She lives in Cambridge, MA with her husband and two dogs where she teaches at Emerson College and facilitates writing workshops.
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Just For Fun . . . Prompt #672
Write a quick 9-minute story or poem using these words:
Summer or winter
Fling or saunter
Apple martini or grape juice
Reality or ruse
Rain jacket or scarf
Breaststroke or rollerskate
New York or Liverpool
Thread or button
Green or turquoise
See what Mary O’Brien did with this writing prompt.
#amwriting #justwrite #iamawriter
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Push Past The Fluff
When you are freewriting and there is more time to write, but you feel ready to stop . . . try to keep going. Push the limits. Push past the urge to go no farther.
After the fluff is written, deeper writing can happen. Perhaps a doorway to intuitive writing will open.
One of the benefits of writing fine details when freewriting, besides exploration and discovering forgotten items, is that details are what make stories interesting and make them come alive.
I Feel Statements
The reason for “I feel” statements in freewrites is that this is a way to learn and access your emotions about what happened. This is what personal essay or memoir writing is all about. The facts are interesting, but what the reader wants to know is:~ What the narrator gained
~ The narrator’s emotions
~ What lesson was learned
~ The epiphany or the “aha” moment
Freewrites
Freewrites: Opening Doors to Discoveries
Just Write!
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What if we could change the past? . . . Prompt #671
What if we could change the past? According to Sam Keen and Anne Valley-Fox, in “Your Mythic Journey,” we can change the past simply by retelling it differently than we usually do.
“The past is open to revision because memory is a function of present intention. You can turn your story over (and over) and find new perspectives on past events and emotions.” —Sam Keen
Think about some stories you have told over and over again. It could be a little thing or a big thing. It could be something that happened a long time ago, or recently. It can be repetitive thoughts you have.
Choose one story or one repetitive thought.
In your mind, “see” that story you have been telling and re-telling.
Pause, while you choose a story.
See this scene as if you are looking at a wide screen. You can see everything in this scene.
Where are you?
Who is in this scene?
Are you hot or cold or can’t feel a thing?
What is the dominant emotion?
Where do you feel this emotion in your body?
Take a deep breath.
What do you smell?
Scan the entire scene, from left to right, top to bottom
Now, drill down, zero in on one aspect of this scene. It could be a button on someone’s coat, or something someone is holding, or food someone is fixing.
Or someone’s shoes, or an every day useful item.
Prompt: I see . . .
Or: I know . .
Or: I think . . .
Or: I remember . . .
Please practice self-care when writing about difficult topics:
How to write without adding trauma.
Writing About Difficult Times In Your Life
An excellent book to help with your writing: The Write Spot: Writing as a Path to Healing