Week One of Classes: I survived. The students survived. And I’m sure we all went home on Friday night relieved that the first week was over and feeling a lot better about next Monday morning.
And the writing, Heather? Okay. Not so good there. I completely lost track of the mindset that would have helped me do some writing last week. I forgot that, in order to get any writing done when I’m busy, I have to stop thinking about writing a story, but instead think about writing in smaller pieces. Sadly, I sit down thinking that I really need to get that story written, and then I freeze because I don’t have the time or the ability or the energy to concentrate through such a complicated process. I can type, but I certainly can’t create.
Today, I finally came in for a landing and remembered the lesson I’d learned before about all this, and now, I’m ready to face another busy week that will include writing on terms I can cope with. The lesson is in this quote from Anne Lamott’s book Bird by Bird:
“I go back to trying to breathe, slowly and calmly, and I finally notice the one-inch picture frame that I put on my desk to remind me of short assignments. It reminds me that all I have to do is to write down as much as I can see through a one-inch picture frame. This is all I have to bite off for the time being.”
I don’t have the time to write the story, but I can write a small part of it–one scene, one moment, one character description, one brainstorming page of scribbles to work through a plot point. I can research something, or journal to clear my head. All good. All doable. If I remember the one-inch picture frame.
I’m going to reread this blog by Kristi Holl, too. “Chop! Chop! Writing in 20 Minute Slices.” If you’re having trouble feeling like a writer when life gets crazy, you might want to read it, too.
Hope you have a great week and that you find the time you need, even if only a few minutes at a time, to feel like a writer.
My goal for my vacation was to create 50 new writing prompts. I managed 30, which means, from one perspective, that I had a very lazy and enjoyable vacation. And which, quite frankly, is really okay. Technically I have another two days, so I’ll be working, in between loads of laundry, to create the other 20 by Sunday night. In the meantime, I thought I’d share what I came up with here. I’ve added them under the Writing Prompts tab, too.
Do you reread books? I do. In fact that’s what I’ve been doing for the past two weeks. I’m a fan of the Dorothy L. Sayers’ Peter Wimsey novels, and discovered that they could be purchased very easily and inexpensively for my Kobo–a dangerous discovery for someone like me. Anyhow, I’ve been rereading all the ones featuring Harriet Vane, and I’ve really enjoyed them. Perfect vacation reading. Like visiting old friends. What kind of books do you reread?
Hope you have a great weekend, and if writing is on your agenda, maybe one of these prompts will help you with your story.
1. See if these pairs of images inspire a story or poem: Blue pens and ice cream, flashlights and doorknobs, tea cups and sunglasses.
2. What was your character’s favourite childhood movie? Which movie scared him/her? (For me, it was when Pinocchio got swallowed by the whale.) From your character’s point of view, write his/her memoires of seeing these films.
3. Use one, some or all of these words in a story or poem: door, bottle, corner, light, smile, star.
4. Try one of these first lines to start a story:
The ring hit the empty garbage can with a clunk.
Why are you leaving?
I heard the bang and ran.
5. Can you think of a story for one of these titles?
Wings and Lace, Emerald Crown, Longing, Full Stop, Star Struck, Run, Hitching a Ride.
6. Can you work these lines of dialogue into a scene or a story?
“You missed!”
“I know.”
“But you never miss.”
7. What’s your favourite song or soundtrack? Explain why this music is special to you and why someone should listen to it.
8. See if these pairs of images suggest a story or poem: yellow lilies and rain, smoke and a mirror, lightning and a wing.
9. Try one of these opening sentences to begin a story or scene:
Snow. Again.
I missed the sign that read: Caution Wet Floor.
Loose gravel crunched beneath my feet.
I thought she looked familiar.
10. They say that our sense of smell is the most evocative of our senses. When I smell lavender I recall memories of my grandmother. When I smell fried onions, I think of the Canadian National Exhibition, and am swamped with images from many childhood trips there. What smells can trigger your memories? Where do those memories lead when you start to write them down?
11. Consider starting your story with one of these actions:
Someone running away
Someone or something getting lost
Someone being frightened
Someone or something falling.
12. Are you afraid of heights, spiders or crowds of people? What is your character afraid of?
13. Use one, some or all of these words in a story or poem: cup, bloom, note, cave, sign, red.
14. What does your character think and feel when she/he looks in the mirror?
15. Can you work these lines of dialogue into a scene or a story?
“It’s too dark. I can’t see.”
“We have to keep going.”
“YOU have to keep going.”
16. What was your character’s favourite childhood toy? What do these toys tell you about your character? Did your character learn any special skill while playing with these toys that might help him or her in your story?
17. See if these pairs of images inspire a story or poem: spoons and blue jeans, running shoes and a rainbow, tea cups and sunglasses.
18. Try one of these opening sentences:
I thought flying would be harder.
Jill disappeared on Wednesday.
I was sure I heard the sound of wings.
19. Who is your favourite modern author? Go back and reread just the first pages of his or her novels. Look closely at the techniques used to get and keep the reader’s attention. Look at your own first pages and see if you can incorporate any of those techniques to make the beginning of your story more appealing to readers.
20. Consider starting your story with one of these actions:
Someone climbing
Someone lighting a fire
Someone throwing something.
21. What is the one thing that your character doesn’t want anyone to find out about him or her?
22. Can you work these lines of dialogue into a scene or a story?
“I was told to bring you here.”
“Who told you?”
“You’ll find out soon.”
23. Use one, some or all of these words in a story or poem: pitcher, nail, bag, yellow, edge, chain
24. Is your character a good sailor or does s/he get motion sickness? Can either of these characteristics be used in your story? An ocean voyage? A ride on a roller coaster?
25. Try one of these opening sentences:
Eldor was a different kind of capital city.
Chains rattled.
It was my turn to dig.
26. Who is your reader? Take some time and describe your reader. How old? What interests? Favourite TV shows? Where does he or she read? What makes your reader put a book down? What makes him or her smile or feel sad? What makes him or her laugh? Make your reader as real as possible, and think of this reader when you sit down to write.
27. Here are some lines of dialogue for your story.
“It’s cold.”
“Yes.”
“I’m freezing!”
“Keep moving.”
28. Try one of these opening lines:
The forest sighed.
There was only one way to find out if this would work.
They were wrong. Blood did not look like ketchup.
29. Use one, some or all of these words in a story or poem: fence, line, sharp, red, cord, leaf, window
30. What does your character do at the beach? Play a competitive game of beach volleyball? Laze in the sun? Read? Catch up on email? Swim? Avoid the crowds? What do his or her preferences tell you about your character that you might not have known before?
Wow! August already. And you know what? That’s okay. I had a busy July and got a lot of writing done–including some for which I’m getting paid! I’m looking forward to another month of writing, some during a family vacation, and some definitely next week to accommodate a couple of late (and thankfully short) assignments. I love sending out invoices before I go on vacation!
In my last blog I talked about getting the sequel to The Dragon’s Pearl finished–and I did! I finished it last Saturday, but because of other writing tasks on my plate, I haven’t looked at it since. Today I printed it out, and I’m looking forward to my first, sticky-note run through. I love editing and revising!
Here are some prompts to get you writing in August.
1. Use one, some or all of these words in a story or poem.
jar, paperweight, cloth, key, white, grip
flashlight, stone, shelf, mark, camera, run
2. See where these opening sentences lead your imagination.
Mrs. Winthrop was peeking out of her window again.
Inside the apartment, the air smelled of cigarettes–and death.
Ducan raised his hands and tossed a ball of light into the darkness.
The last person I expected to see here was Luke
I always saw more clearly after dark.
3. Maybe these titles will suggest a story.
For the Record, Time’s Key, Heart and Hope, The Long Climb, Circles, First Vision, Silver Stars
4. Write a description of your favourite place. How does it look? Smell? What do you eat there? Describe the tastes. What do you hear? What’s the pace of this place? Does it inspire activity or do you just kick back? When you look back at your writing, does the pace of your writing match the pace of the location? Are your sentences long, and slow-moving or are they short and full of energy and action?
I’m grabbing a few days away in Southampton–a town that inspires walking and stopping to smell the roses. Though I still have some work to do on a paid gig, I plan to commit a lot of time to working on the sequel to The Dragon’s Pearl–and walking.
I love looking at other people’s gardens. I’m no gardener myself, so it’s not envy, just simple admiration at the time people commit to creating beauty around them. I’m strictly a 1-large-pot-by-the-front-porch kind of person, and a lot of hostas, day lilies, and (sorry) goutweed to fill in the bits I don’t want to weed.
I hear that gardening is relaxing, but to me it’s just a battle that I wage with weeds when they’ve taken over too much of my turf. Last year was easy. We had no rain for months, so things stayed pretty tidy. This year, however, we have been blessed with lots of rain, and my weeds are in their happy place.
When I get back from my break, I’ll be digging and yanking and spraying (only the eco-friendly stuff, I promise) and then be able to relax for a while. That, of course, is the problem. I don’t go out there every day and do a little bit. I wait until I’m facing a weeding marathon. Not the best approach, I know.
In a Southampton garden
With my writing, I do a little better. Since March I’ve been trying to be a better gardener for my creative side–doing a little bit of writing every day instead of putting a lot of pressure on myself to clear a big chunk of time and then do a big push through a project. Even a few words a day means I’m making progress, and that’s my happy place.
How do you nurture your writing projects? A little bit every day or a massive write-a-thon?
I’ve found the perfect way to bring my writing to a complete halt. Lose confidence.
It was the right time to hear the right words.
I was working on the sequel to The Dragon’s Pearl, and I was about half way through the first draft when the gloom began. I started worrying about the first book. Was it really any good? Am I wasting my time writing another? And of course, those questions led to … Is anything that I’ve ever written any good? Can I even call myself a writer? Where is the chocolate? Is it time for a nap?
Yeah, well, you get the idea.
So, last week I passed the manuscript along to a friend who has children the same ages for which the book was written. Her son “liked it a lot.” She said a couple of other nice things, too, but I was so thrilled to read just those four words, I didn’t really need any more. A child liked my book. Wow. Could it get any better? Not for me. Not right now.
I’ve been working on some paid gigs this week, but this afternoon is set aside to get back to the manuscript. I hope that you find some creative time today, too, and that the right person at exactly the right time says that they like what you wrote.
Yay for Friday! I had a lot of fun this week writing a story for the SCBWI mash-up. The plan is for an author to write 500 words based on a four word prompt and an illustrator to create a drawing based on the same four words. Neither knows what the other is doing. This weekend they get put together, and we get to see how it all turned out. I’ll post the link as soon as it’s ready, so you can see the final result. This week’s words: Brascoe, Television news anchor, treehouse, T-Rex.
Peonies – My favourite June flower
It’s funny how some writing prompts work and other don’t–well, for me anyways. I love prompts in which random words are thrown together, and you have to create a story or a scene from them. I like working with stray bits of dialogue, too. I wrote 65,000-word historical romance based on three words that I drew from a basket during one of my own writing classes. That kind of prompt requires my puzzle brain, trying to figure something out with just a few clues. It probably has to do with my love of mysteries, the books on codes and secret messages that I used to check out of the library when I was in my Nancy Drew phase, and the fact that I still like to do crossword puzzles and Sudoku.
What kind of writing prompts work for you? Do you like random words or sentences or do you prefer the ones that demand a deeply personal response? Why do you think you prefer one kind of prompt over another. I actually hope that you’re one of the lucky ones that has so many ideas in your head for stories or poems that you don’t need a prompt. If that’s you, celebrate!!
I create writing prompts every month. I ‘d love to know what prompts you’re looking for, so I can include them in my first-of-the-month-writing-prompt post.
Begonias and Something with Purple Flowers. My only planting of annuals.
This has been a busy chore-filled week. I am so not a gardener and our house is on a lot that presents a lot of challenges. A lot of my work seems to be done on a 45 degree slope. I’m strictly into low maintenance, but my mom, who has an apartment downstairs, is a force to be reckoned with in the spring, and plants keep coming home with her for me to dig in somewhere. What started out as just a little corner for her to putter in has grown this year by more than a dozen various plants and small shrubs and threatens to keep growing. I always cringe a little when she gazes over the back yard and says, “You know. I’ve just been thinking … ” You see, I’m a big fan of goutweed, hostas and day lilies to keep the weeds down, but her tastes are considerably more refined. I mean, she actually plants annuals! This is her happy time of year, so I keep digging holes where she tells me and trimming things that she says need trimming, and try to think positively of the calories that I’m burning, and the glass of wine that I’ll have earned by the end of the day.
On the writing side, I made a bit more progress at the end of the week and will be finishing a short story draft today that I started on Wednesday. Up until then, I was totally stymied by misgivings about whether I should rewrite a major project or just keep going ahead with the sequel. Should I change a project from third person to first? And then I realized I had started my mystery novel all wrong. And then … well, you get the idea. Shudder. Indecision is a real creativity killer, and there are times when I am nearly buried in it. Climbing out is a grim process, but I do, finally, get above ground again and back to the keyboard. Whew.
I’ve gathered a few months of writing starters and added them under the Writing Prompts tab today, and updated my list of publishing options for teen writers under the Where to Get Published tab. You can tell that I’ve also played around with the look of the site again. Sorry about that.
Have a great Friday and hope you have a relaxing and creative weekend ahead.
How has your writing been progressing this week? What are you working on? I’ve been working on a sequel to a middle readers fanatasy that I’m in the process of publishing. I had my biggest day yesterday, adding just over 1500 words to the manuscript. That’s a big day for me! If you’re stuck for inspiration check the writing starters on this site and see if you can find a story idea that works for you.
I also have some reading on my agenda, too: Mary Kole’s Writing Irresistible Kidlit, and Kristi Holl’s Writing Mysteries for Young People. I love reading about the craft of writing, and I can’t think of a better time than on the first long weekend of the summer.
Hope that you find some time today to be creative and that you have a great weekend ahead.
It’s been a fun month of April. I wrote every day, which was good, and I got a good start on my sequel to a children’s fantasy that I’m currently publishing via Kindle Direct Publishing. More about that very soon.
What has also been fun is to check my website and find out that I’ve been getting visitors from South Korea who have been searching for me using the title of the book I wrote for the schools there. I had so much fun writing Sherlock Holmes and the Orphanage Mystery, and it has been very cool to know that students are actually reading my book and then checking in to my website. So ‘Hi guys. I hope you’re enjoying the book!”
And since it’s May 1st, here are your writing prompts for the month. Hope you have a creative May!
1. Use one, some, or all of the following words in a story or poem:
hill, bloom, light, road, branch, blue
box, cry, cap, bench, ring, lake
2. Try one of these opening sentences to start your story:
No matter when sunrise is, it’s too early.
I really hoped that was lightning.
Bill hated coming second.
“I don’t need any help.”
It wouldn’t be long now.
Lex couldn’t grip the sword a moment longer.
3. Try using one of these dialogue excerpts in a scene.
This is important.
Only to you
That’s not true. Both our lives depend on it.
Can’t you sit still?
The ground is wet.
Okay, you can get wet or you can find dry ground and risk being seen.
Oh no, that’s just not fair.
What’s not fair?
On top of everything else, it’s snowing!
Leave it on the desk.
Leave what?
The memory card that’s in your pocket.
4. Can you think of a story for one of these titles?
Disc Life, Grey Area, Left of Centre, Table for Three, In Danger, River View, Never Alone
5. Here are some “may”-themed song titles and expressions that might inspire a story:
Mayflower, Mayberry, First of May, May You Never, Lusty Month of May, Maggie May, May the Circle Remain Unbroken, Come What May, You May be Right, I may or may not, May the road rise up to meet you, Mother may I? I wish I may. I wish I might …
I’ve been having an interesting time working on my challenge this month to write first thing every morning. I can honestly say that I have written every day, but I haven’t managed to do it every morning, first thing, which was the plan. Now that my semester is ended, I’m hoping to manage to meet the challenge for the rest of the month–and forever. I really have found it a useful exercise. I don’t write on my current project most days. But I do settle my thoughts, make my lists, get frustrations off my chest, and think about how thankful I am for the people in my life. And when I do get to write later in the day, I really do get into “writing mode” sooner, which is a nice benefit. So all good.
I had a couple of fun writing gigs last week. One included my visiting nurseries and finding out about new gardening trends. The other involved a trip to Lowe’s to find out about the latest in power tools. My family thought the latter was pretty funny. My feelings about treking around hardware stores are no secret, though I definitely do my share when home repairs are on the list. Both articles were fun to write, and, as usual, I learned something new. That is one of the best parts of being a freelancer. I get to talk to interesting people, learn new things, stretch my writing muscles with new topics and audiences–and get paid. I’ve posted one of the flower photos that I took while on my nursery visits. Spring is slow to come here, so seeing things in bloom was a real treat.
What writing projects have you worked on lately? Have you learned something from your research or from an interview that you didn’t know before?
going to reread this blog by Kristi Holl, too. “Chop! Chop! Writing in 20 Minute Slices.” If you’re having trouble feeling like a writer when life gets crazy, you might want to read it, too.
