The back-to-school items are already in the store, and I have an urge to buy new pencil crayons and pens. I guess that, after so many years of study and teaching and having a student in the house, I am naturally drawn to displays of neatly stacked school supplies. I’m old enough to miss Laurentian pencil crayons and Peacock crayons, and I wish that there were still Eaton’s and Sears’ catalogues to look at and dream of new clothes or the fabric to make them.
Nostalgia for that new-start feeling is a good thing. I’ve always felt that my real New Years was Labour Day, and it won’t be any different this year, though it, and my next post, may be delayed a few weeks by some family time. This is the time of year that I start to think about my writing goals and plans. This is the time of year that I contact schools and libraries about workshop offerings and when I contact former clients about my availability to see if there’s any work to be sent my way. It’s an energizing time that usually coincides with cooler breezes and windows-open days (rare this summer), and I’m looking forward to it.
When do you feel best prepared to make your fresh start? Your birthday? New Years? Vacation? Whenever you choose, I hope you make the most of the time to think about your goals, the changes you want to make, and what you really want to be in your life and your writing life. I hope you have a writerly year ahead.
Here are the writing prompts for August.
- Use one, some, or all of the words in one of the following groups to create a story or poem.
- Vine, post, yellow, wren, smoke flee
- Hedge, satellite, sky, night, shelter
- Path, gravel, noise, secret, pair, morning
- Heat, lightning, drench, flood, chase
- Tress, shadows, animal, noise, shiver
- Here are some opening sentences to try.
- I’ll never understand Helen.
- The house was too quiet.
- No one could figure out where the moans were coming from.
- Everyone was ready—except me.
- Finally, I was going to find out what was so special about that book.
- Emily never yelled, but she did now. “Run!”
- We were lost, cold, and hungry.
- Here are some titles that might inspire a story or poem: Ivy, Fences, On Fire, Pedal Power, Ghost on the Ski Hill, Entitled, Lessons, The Final Forest, She’s Missing, Rocket School, Throne Room.
- See if you can create a scene around one of the following dialogue excerpts.
- See you later.
- You can’t leave now.
- Give me a good reason.
- I thought I told you to close the windows.
- I did close them.
- Then where’s that cold draft coming from?
- Henry’s supposed to do that.
- I know, but he’s not here, and it can’t wait.
- Henry left for here two hours ago.
- What do you want?
- Helen told me she left an envelope for me.
- Oh yeah. Here it is—what’s the matter?
- I’m not sure I want to open it.
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