Several years ago I read a blog about writing. I don't remember who's blog or much that I read that day. (I know. It must have really been amazing!) But I do remember doing some writing exercisers. Now, I've never taken a creative writing class and any bit of writing I've mostly learned through trial and error. I also don't feel like I have a lot of time to do writing exercisers. So I was skeptical about this exercise. However, this one only takes 5 minutes! And after trying it, I was utterly amazed with myself!
So let me tell you a little about this exercise. I will show you two words, which you may look at for 30 seconds, and you sit and write anything that comes to mind at the first glance. You have five minutes to complete the assignment. It doesn't have to be a full story. Just start writing. Don't let your pencil (or fingers) come off the paper (or keyboard.) Try to write for a solid 5 minutes. Push yourself and see how much you can do in 5 minutes. You'll be amazed.
There are a couple of things, though. You need to use the first word shown you as the first word of your writing. The second word needs to appear in the first sentence.
So, are you read?
Get set...
(Remember you only have 30 seconds.)
Look...
Fire
&
Chair
Now write and let me know how it goes! Good luck and have fun!
If you want to do this again, go here and there's another set of words.
Another place from childhood memories of Knutsford, Cheshire, was the old Prison Site. This place conjured up the strangest imaginings in my young mind. I wasn’t old enough to understand the full extent of man’s suffering when freedom had gone, and all that was left was the monotony of four walls and memories of better times, but still, the old place had a feel to it that was creepy, yet compelling.
I often cycled over there on my black bike (a second-hand but repainted birthday gift from my parents), riding up and down the bumpy hills worn into uneven paths by years of feet taking a short cut to town.
The ground, which was about the size of two soccer fields, had been known locally as the “Prison Site” for so long that the words were more a title than a phrase, and the meaning forgotten—similar to the way Brits call a vacuum cleaner a Hoover, with no thought to the real meaning.
This aerial photograph of the prison dates from about 1930 before it was demolished. The four-storey prison was built in 1853 to hold a hundred women. It was known as the 'House of Correction' in 1860, when it held 273 prisoners, with a capacity for 700, according to Joan Leach in her book Behind Prison Walls. And David Woodley, in his book, Knutsford Prison: The Inside Story, says, “Over the years, as well as local criminals, debtors and offenders against the Game and Bastardy Laws, Knutsford Prison housed disaffected Chartists and those awaiting transportation. From 1886, until it was taken over by the Home Office as an Army detention barrack in 1915, nine executions took place on its scaffold.”
When we lived nearby, the old prison had long been knocked to the ground, leaving heaps of brick and rubble over which grass and weeds grew in wild abundance. No one ever questioned why the debris wasn’t removed. It stayed there until after we moved home when I was twelve, and provided secret caverns big enough for my hand to insert small treasures, buttons, and a bright-but-broken Christmas ornaments. I always closed the hole containing my secret booty with a brick marked with chalk.
Sometimes, the contents would disappear by the time I next visited my hole, and that’s when I invented stories about prisoners still in dungeons below the ground, who took my gifts to perk up their days. Of course, they were always innocent prisoners, wrongly captured for crimes uncommitted, and there was always a fair maiden (me) waiting for the right moment to rescue the rugged hero. Actually, my heroes all looked like Cornel Wilde, an actor in a movie I saw with my mother. He was a trapeze artist in the 1952 version of The Greatest Show on Earth.
That was the first movie I ever watched, and it marked the beginning of an enchantment with the silver screen and all things connected. In England, trips to the cinema were called “going to the pictures.” As I grew older, I added stage musicals, concerts, and pantomimes, and invariably became so absorbed in the tale that the end always came too soon and it was a shock to find the world around me hadn’t changed.
By the way, in more recent years, the old Prison Site became the home of Booths Supermarket, and I understand there are reports of paranormal activity by local residents. Oh, for the time to write more. There has to be a good story in there, somewhere.
Back in two weeks. Oh, and if you'd like to read the latest review of Famous Family Nights, hop on over to author Sherry Ann Miller's blog by clicking HERE. Her first sentence says, "Famous Family Nights . . . is one of the best books I've ever read on Family Home Evenings." Thank you, Sherry Ann, you made my day. And I have to add, all credit for it being that good goes to the 91 participants who sent in their fascinating stories. Hats off to them all.
So, I'm doing a writing workshop and book signing at my local library next month. I've been thinking about what I want to say. I guess I'll start off with how I began writing and talk about my journey through revisions, rejections, and releases. Basically, the 3 R's.
I'm not the kind of person who talks that much about herself. Sometimes, I really feel I just don't have much to say. But, this is going to be all about me, and I wonder will people be that interested?
I want to touch on the important aspects of my writing-- how I got published. I think that's what most people want to know. I wonder how much to delve into my individual books and what they're about. Do people really want to know what inspired each book?
I think I'll talk about the writing process for those who are aspiring authors. I'll mention a few key aspects to think about when you write- POV, pacing, dialogue.
So, I ask you. What would you want to hear about if you went to a writer's workshop? What would make it interesting for you.
And the winner is.....drumroll.....Valerie Ipson! Congratulations! You've won a signed copy of "Confessions of a Completely Insane Mother!" I hope it will make you laugh and feel great about being a mother! I think I need to re-read it after I set my stove on fire when I made strawberry jam the other day. Sigh. If you didn't win, don't worry, you can read some more humor stories on my blog. Have a wonderful day!
I was happily going along with my crazy week when I realized that it's September 2nd. And that I said I'd pick a winner for my book giveaway on Aug. 17th and post it the first day of September. Which was yesterday.
Oops!
Even though I'm a day late, Random.org helped me choose a winner! And it is the commenter Impkatt!! *applause* *whistling* Email me your mailing address at jaimetheler AT yahoo DOT com. Impkatt wanted me to pick my favorite of my two books, but I won't tell which one. I'll let it be a surprise. (Mostly because I haven't decided yet.)
Rumor has it that the sub-consicous has the power to move the world? Hmmm. Very interesting. Is that why we get ideas, find solutions, conclusions, answers, plots, more often than not in the middle of the night or in the middle of doing something completely opposite of the the current writer's block whirling around in our head? Are we simply freeing up the sub-conscious, giving it time to work on the problem? Wasn't it Agatha Christie who said, "The best time for planning a book is while doing the dishes."
Dr. Linus pauling tells us that the best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas. so where do we get lots of ideas? 1. We may think them. 2. We may read them in a newspaper, a book, a magazine. 3. By being a people watcher. 4. Maybe through our own life experiences. 5. TV or movies. 6. History. 7. Curiosity. 8. By simply listening to the twittering of a bird - to the silence of the night - to the quiet beauty fo the day - to the sunshine or the rain.
I might add while visiting an art gallery, listening to music, painting a picture, hiking, swimming, etc. Oh, there are so many ways.
I took an art class from Dale parsons, who you all know to be a impressive artist. One of his most timely bits of advice to his class was this. "Sometimes I will work on a face for hours, leaving it only when I think I've got it right. Then, the next morning I may get up and take a look at it and start all over again."
Knowing that even the greatest artists don't always get it right the first time, tells me that I'm doing okay. It makes me realize that no matter how long I've been painting or writing, I will never quite learning.
today, I am giving away a book and I am so excited. What I've done is copied all the names on pieces of paper and, at this moment, they are sitting in front of me all clumped together, waiting . . . . I shuffle through them . . . close my eyes . . . reach out my hand . . . Ah. And the winner is . . . Wait a minute . . . oh, no . . . There are two pieces of paper in my hand. Maybe I should have kept my eyes open. The only fair thing I can do now is to give two books away. Isn't this fun!!! And the winners are: Joylynn and Janice
If both of you will e-mail me your address at bjarnold@infowest.com. I will get your books in the mail.
I want to thank all of you who commented on my blog. See you in two weeks.
Years ago I worked in Washington DC and spent a day at a congressional reception, consuming every kind of ice cream known to mankind to celebrate National Ice Cream Day. While I thought it was a silly holiday, I was too busy shoving Drumsticks and ice cream sandwiches in my mouth to complain or request that our legislative efforts be spent on more noble causes. Hey, it was free ice cream after all.
Apparently, almost anyone can request that a national holiday be created to honor just about anything. Did you know that September is National Be Kind to Editors and Writers Month? Now there's a holiday worth honoring!
Be sure to finish reading this blog post before you race out to the store to purchase an outrageously expensive gift for me. Here is a very helpful list of of ten ways you can be kind to the editors and writers in your life. If YOU are the writer in your life, then you can simply print this list and set it on the kitchen counter or bedside table where your loved ones may conveniently happen upon it.
1. Sharpen all the pencils in the house. Do not sharpen the pens.
2. Stay off the computer. A writer might have an epiphany just as you are winning your game of Solitaire.
3. Do not interrupt your loved one while they are working. Haven't you ever heard of the "zone"?
4. Do not let your toddler use the computer paper as a doodle pad. What if I have an award-winning novel at my fingertips? There will not be one sheet of paper to print it on.
5. If your writer/editor/loved one is Blonde, take the initiative to clean the white-out off of the computer screen. She'll thank you later.
6. Set out lots of chocolate and late-night treats by the computer. Everyone knows that writers always wait until the last minute to finish a project. They will be up until 3 a.m. trying to decide if they should use the word "lie" or "lay" or "laid".
7. Offer to baby-sit for the writer/editor in your life. They still might not get any work done, but the kids will be out of their hair for awhile and that's always a gift.
8. Help your writer by answering that giant pile of fan mail. If there is no fan mail, write some.
9. Be kind to your editor by taking a few extra minutes to run that doggone spell-check before you send your manuscript.
Now write and let me know how it goes! Good luck and have fun!
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