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Change me, change and you, loose change and character change

There’s a lot of change in my life recently.  There’s change in our house with the current remodel.  (mess! clutter! glue stink!  Me sleeping in the living room to get away from stink!)  There’s a job change (not mine) and my dog, Zoie, dealing with not-enough-deck-time-due-to-workers. 

All of this has led to sleep disturbances,  unusual dreams, a writing block or two and a bit more growling.  Even from Zoie. 

Writing Prompts:

1. How does change affect you?  Write about a major or a minor change in your life.  What happened?  How did you and others around you react?  Were there both positive and negative occurrences from this change?  Describe your thoughts and feelings at this time.  Slow-down-the-moment and make us feel like we were really there when it happened.  Include dialogue and action when you can.

2. What about your characters in fiction?  Remember the main character needs to change within the structure of a story.   What type of change does your protagonist go through?  What are the stages of this change?  What propels the changes?  What kind of a person is she before the book begins?  After? 

3.  How does your character deal with upsetting changes?  Write a scene as an example.

4.  Your character finds a dime in the street.  She believes it is good luck.  What happens next? 

5.  Your character finds a penny in the street.  A spirit is sending her a message from heaven.  What happens next?

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The Sylvia Beach Hotel’s Dr. Seuss room is a delightful mixture of childlike fun, primary colors, and of course, SEUSS!  We stayed next to it in Agatha Christie (larger room facing the ocean) but if I were coming up to this Oregon B&B by myself I’d book this one for writing inspiration.

Above this furry-footed bed is this sign:

There is a lovely desk for illustrators and writers:

And a chair for reading and playing with the stuffed Seuss animals:

 
 
 
Writing Prompt: 
 
1. Use Dr. Seuss to inspire your writing.  Write rhyme.  Read Dr. Seuss to get you in the mood of course!
 
2.  You have every writer’s fantasy.  You are allowed a month at a retreat.  You can go anywhere you want to go.  You may bring any reading and writing projects with you.  What will you work on?  What are your writing goals?
 
3.  What’s stopping you from starting those writing goals NOW?  Remember Anne Lamott’s advice in Bird by Bird.  Just write a little bit at a time.  Don’t look at the huge book, article, paper, or website.  Just try writing a paragraph per day or whatever YOU can manage. 
 
4.  Give yourself a goal.  Cut back on television, surfing the web, socializing, or all of the above.  Give yourself 20 minutes a day to write ANYTHING. 
 
5.  Check off the days on the calendar when you stick to your plan.  Pretty soon you’ll develop a writing routine.  THEN you can call yourself a writer!
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Free Writing Workshop Grades 6 – 12 on Wednesday

Free Writing Workshop Grade 6 – 12

Make Great Writing Better!     

What: Writers Workshop

Sand, Sea and Suspense! 

An Interactive Writing Afternoon

Who:   Grades 6 – 12

When: Wednesday, June 16, 2010                                       

 Cost:  FREE!              3:00 – 5:00  p.m.                                                   

   Where:  Clayton Public Library       

   6125 Clayton Rd, Clayton  

  925-673-0659                                     

                        Mystery! Suspense! Intrigue! 

            A fun treasure hunt and a mystery boat.  Who did it?  Did what? Why?  Discover how mystery, suspense and intrigue will make your good story better.

Two professional authors who love writing lead this interactive workshop. Bring your questions about the publishing world, write, meet other writers, “talk books,”go on an adventure and be inspired to write and publish your own works of prose.  For student writers who want to make their good writing even better.  Take your writing to the next level!

Led by children’s authors Sarah Wilson and Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff

Visit them at www.sarahwilsonbooks.com  and www.lizbooks.com 

Bring pen and paper and get ready to WRITE!

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Art or a Photo Inspires Writing

Open a book of art or photography, a newspaper or magazine.  Which painting or photo do you see?  Let it inspire a poem, short story or allow it to remind you of a memory in your life.

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Literary Vacation

We’re back from several days in Oregon.  In Portland my husband allowed me much time in Powell’s Books.  If it were a one-story building, it would equal eight blocks of books!

If you are a  book-lover as I am, you will not be disappointed.  I spent hours browsing used books, reading, and selecting my favorites.  It was great seeing all of the other readers, too, many of them children, focused into books so much that they weren’t aware of their surroundings. 

Yes, some parents and teachers, and writers ARE doing a great job after all!  Keep it up!

Note:  If  you are a parent, make sure you take your child to bookstores and libraries often.  When in doubt allow them books for their library rather than useless stuff. 

Note:  If you are a teacher, “talk up” bookstores and libraries and mention them in your casual speech to show you value them.  You’ll be surprised how much they want to be like you, although they might not ever want to admit it.

Note:  If you are a student, give your parents – – and your friends,  reasons why you need books.  Show them you value them.   They can use your influence too!  Sometimes adults get away from reading and need to be led back to it.

We also visited Newport, on the coast, and stayed at the Sylvia Beach Hotel.  It’s a little bed and breakfast where each room is named and themed for an author. 

We stayed in the Agatha Christie room, where there were clues for her mysteries scattered about.   An old-fashioned typewriter,  English-style prints on the walls, a cozy cat named Dickens (yes, he was real!) and picture windows facing the ocean decorated our place.

My favorite room was the Dr. Seuss room.  Done in bold primary colors, the bed had big furry feet sticking out of the foot-board!  Also in the room stood a lovely artist’s sketch table , a painting of Cat-in-the-Hat on the wall, and stuffed characters from his books.  What fun! 

In the evening, we ate downstairs at their Table of Contents  restaurant. The evening featured family style dining with other people gathered at the tables and a fun game of us telling two truths and one lie, in order for everyone to question each other to discover the REAL truth and lie.  It was a great way to get the conversation going, although at our table, we had no trouble at all. The food was delicious and we had a delightful time, followed by  reading back in our room. 

Although it rained every day but one – – the day of Portland’s famed Rose Parade, which happened right outside our hotel, we still enjoyed our trip. 

Funny about the parade.  We had no knowledge about this at all.  It reminded us of when we visited Belgium a couple of years ago.  Then, too, our hotel was right next to their annual parade.  Theirs was themed for recycling and it had gone on for years and years, before recycling was cool! 

Makes me want to write about parades. . . I have a few from my childhood that give me warm memories. 

What about you? 

Writing Prompt:  1.  Write about a parade in a personal narrative. 

2.  Write about a trip you’ve taken or want to take.   3.  Write about a character in your story who takes a trip.

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New Haiku Contest

From the Contra Costa Times:  Summer’s almost here and with it, road trips and air travel.  So this month, we’re focusing our poetic energies on the joys and woes of travel, from scenic vistas to shoeless schleps through airport security.  Send your haiku — three lines in a 5-7-5 syllable pattern –to [email protected] by noon June 28.

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Today’s Writing Idea

Open up a book of quotations to any page.  What’s the first quote you see?  How can it inspire a piece of writing? 

If you don’t have a quote book, you can borrow mine.  I opened up The Quotable Mark Twain edited by R. Kent Rasmussen and discovered this by Twain: 

“The porpoise is the kitten of the sea; he never has a serious thought, he cares for nothing but fun and play.”

1. Write a children’s story about a porpoise. 

2. Write a story about a character with the traits of a porpoise. 

3. Create a poem with either of these ideas in mind.  

4.  Take a day off and become the porpoise!  What will you do?  After your day of fun, create a piece of art that reflects your feelings and sense of fun.

5.  Read stories by Twain and let his style influence your writing.

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Dogs and their Squirrels: Relationships 101

As I wrote on the computer in my office, a squirrel on the deck rail outside my window chattered, squealed, hopped up and down, and made a scooping motion with his paw underneath the railing.  What was going on below?  I stood up for a better view. 

Beneath the squirrel on the deck floor lay Zoie, my thirteen-year-old Yorkshire Terrier.  Sunning herself, apparently unaware of the squirrel and his antics above, Zoie’s eyelids were halfway closed, in peaceful relaxation. 

 Oh, poor Zoie.  She was more deaf and blind that we had realized.  She was taking no notice whatsoever of the commotion above her. 

 Later, I told my husband of what happened and he sympathized with our dog. 

However, the next day Zoie’s actions clued me in to her unique relationship with this squirrel.  

 Again, I noticed the squirrel back at his post, ranting as though a predator was stealing his nest.  Again, I stood up.  But this time, Zoie faced him, a few feet away.  She didn’t move a whisker.  She stared nearly at him – – but averted her eyes just enough to make him aware he wasn’t her focus. 

 And she was smiling.

 Good girl.  Very good girl. 

Writing Prompt:  Animals are smarter than we think they are. 

1.  Write about an animal and his/her relationship with another animal.  Show through their actions their feelings. 

2.  Write about an animal you have known and what you’ve learned from this relationship. 

3.  Use an animal relationship to inspire art, poetry, or a story that features animal communication.

 

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Your Brush with Fame and History

Have you ever had known or met a famous person who made her mark in history?   Met a president, an inventor, an explorer or other notable?  Had a discussion, grew up with a person that became famous or infamous?

Known a celebrity?

Share your experience in a personal narrative.  How did this experience change you?  Does the person the world knows differ from the person you met?  Or are they the same?  If it’s a person in history, you may sell this piece to the History Alive column in History Magazine.  Or there are many back pages in magazines that accept first person pieces.

Or you may take this idea another way.  Did YOU almost arrive at fame?  How? 

Remember to put specific details and an anecdote in either piece to make the reader feel like they know you and the other person.

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Gas Mask. Bank Robbery. And Me.

It started like any other day.   But instead of writing, I had to run a few errands first.  The grocery store was number one.  Grabbing my purse, I noticed a stack of small checks on top of the checkbook.  The bank was right next to Safeway.  My hand froze in midair over the bank book.

“No.  Don’t go.”  The words echoed in my mind from who knows where. I felt a darkness wash over me. 

Ridiculous.  Must be because I was anxious about getting all of my work done before the writer contest banquet.

I grabbed the checks.  My body shuddered.  What was this feeling?  I tried to identify it.  Something bad was going to happen.  I didn’t have this feeling often, but when I did, I tried to heed it. 

But then again, this was silly.  However, I let myself be silly.  After all, I could hold off and do the banking on the weekend.  I left the checkbook there. 

Later, after grabbing the milk and vegies and hopping into the car, I saw a police car whip into the parking lot, with lights flashing, sirens off.  My heart thumped.  I knew why he was there.  The bank was being robbed at that very moment. 

The next day, the newspaper confirmed it.  Later that week when I did visit the bank, I asked the teller how she was.  It was her turn to shudder. 

“He was mean,” she said.  “He was all dressed in black.  And big.  Very big.  He wore a gas mask and flashed his gun around.  We knew he would use it.  One of the customers was so upset she had to go to her priest afterwards.”

The bank robber got away, unfortunately.  He is suspected of other bank robberies in the area too. 

I’m glad that I paid attention to my intuition that Monday morning.  I saved myself some emotional trauma. 

Writing Prompt:  Have you ever experienced a moment of intuition?  Did you listen to it?  Or wished you had?  Choose one or more of these experiences to inspire an essay, short story, or poem.

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