monday prompt!

hi, all--

it's monday! here's your prompt:

http://pixdaus.com/single.php?id=118145#read_c

i love old photos of a time long past--people may not change much over the years, but i enjoy glimpses into how we used to live. how we dressed, how we got around, clues into what life was like for different kinds of people; those captured moments that give us a snapshot of flavor. i like imagining what the people in the photographs were thinking at that moment.

if you follow the link and scan down the page, after the photo of ww2 normandy, there are several other photos to choose from--different places, different times. all feel evocative to me. maybe one will grab you?

writing prompt alert!

official monday prompt:

Here’s a fun exercise in brainstorming: (if you can do this with a friend or two, it’s even more fun. )



1. Out of the air, pick several professions. Doesn’t matter what. Bricklayer, clergy, assassin, art restorer, whatev. List a bunch. Write them down on small bits of paper and fold so you can’t read them by accident.



2. Out of the same air, list several different emotions. Be careful to list only emotions, and not needs (ie, hunger), and take a few minutes to give yourself a nice array to choose from. Write these down & fold them, too.



3. One more time with plucking inspiration from the air, jot down several different settings. Be specific. “Texas” is a setting, but maybe “roadkill barbecue cookoff” might work better here. Let yourself be silly, serious, and everywhere in between. Write ‘em down, bits of paper. Fold ‘em.



4. Okay, now, mix all the bits of paper up in a pile (or hat or bucket, or whatever,) and blindly choose several bits of paper. Maybe five or six. Lay them out, and hopefully you’ll have a mix of all three categories. It’s okay if you have a more lopsided representation of one over another, but at least one from each is good.



5. Write your story using these establishing criteria. Even if it seems nuts, or if the finished story is wildly different from where you started, it’s cool. You’re writing, right?



Aaaaand, go!! Let me know what you get!

from the rooftops

what's happening in iran. this poem captures the hope and terror beautifully.

http://poem-of-the-week.blogspot.com/2009/06/anonymous-poem-from-iran.html

make sure to listen to the woman reading and not rely solely on her words. her voice fills the spaces between.

great poetry

a list of my favorite poets would have to include wendell berry, mary oliver, anna swir, and lori coale. you might be asking, "lori coale?" yep. lori coale.

she hits hard with emotional truth and wisdom and images that make my mouth dry. i wish i could do what she does, but instead i read her poetry and dream:

http://www.2river.org/2RView/13_4/poems/coale.html

she's returning to the published world after a hiatus, so take a moment and read these two poems. see if you feel as starry-eyed as i do.

*sigh*

am i fiddling right now? i abstain from answering that question on the grounds i may incriminate myself.

http://writetodone.com/2009/06/17/how-to-stop-digital-fiddling-and-start-writing/

good stuff that goes down like a jagged rock followed with a witch hazel chaser.

fellow writer's book giveaway

give it a gander, yo:

http://suzanne-hartmann2.blogspot.com/2009/06/contest-win-free-book.html

you have until friday, june 26th to enter. suzanne's written some great articles on rules of writing, and her blog's definitely worth checking out. jump on over, and maybe even win a free book.

angry clown shoes

official monday prompt!!

this week i'm exploring the ridiculous, the absurd, the fabulousness of satire. give this video a quick gander:

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/conservatives_warn_quick_sex?utm_source=b-section

nobody does it better than the onion.

as jon stewart said: "I think of myself as a comedian who has the pleasure of writing jokes about things that I actually care about. And that's really it. You know, if I really wanted to enact social change… I have great respect for people who are in the front lines and the trenches of trying to enact social change. I am far lazier than that.

I am a tiny, neurotic man, standing in the back of the room throwing tomatoes at the chalk board. And that's really it. And what we do is we come in in the morning and we go, 'Did you see that thing last night? Aahh!' And then we spend the next 8 or 9 hours trying to take this and make it into something funny." (http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_stewart.html)

satire is extremely difficult to write well--almost as hard as writing a good love scene. but give it a go. and dang, if you can combine the two and make me laugh, you'll have earned yourself a special surprise from my coffers. i promise it'll be worth nothing on ebay. :)

useful, pithy, and by stephen king.

http://mikeshea.net/Everything_You_Need_to_Kn.html

follow the link to an article stephen king wrote about getting published. short and practical, and i feel like i'm sitting on unca steve's lap when i read it. particularly interesting to me is his thinking about the questionable necessity of finding an agent as a new writer. hmm.

Alien Skin Magazine

published one of my stories in their June/July issue. yay!!

here's a quick link for you: http://alienskinmag.com/flash17.htm

one more notch on my writing post, and i'm a little extra proud of this one, since it's one of my earlier stories. please check it out.
and once you're there, stick around and read some of the other stories offered up this issue--good stuff!

tonight i write about mutant bugs.

thank god my dry spell is over. my confidence wavered a bit over the last couple of months; different factors why, not important. what is news: i'm back! yay!
i'm writing short fiction again on a weekly basis, and i'm finally delving back into the first novel.

i attended a writers' conference a couple weekends ago--my first--and the experience was exhilarating and intimidating and overall life-changing. i wish i could say i exaggerate, but all weekend my outer shell (the one i use to keep everyone from knowing my every thought and mood) was gossamer thin. i was able to make it through without show-stopping outbursts, but barely. i felt more alive those two days than i have in a long, long time. i guess i could say i'm re-energized, re-dedicated.

i'm going to finish this novel, and it's going to be good. and i'll do my damnedest to sell the thing while i finish my second. but for tonight, i promised someone a flash story about mutant bugs. :D

food, shelter, clothing, writing.

monday prompt deliciousness:
i've been thinking about food lately. well, let's be honest. i pretty much think about food period. but the connection we have to food, both as a source of life and nourishment, of comfort and sensual delights, of lessons like self-discipline ("eat your veggies") and sharing.
so many stories have used food as an essential element. the one that jumps into my head right off (of course) is laura esquivel's like water for chocolate. magical and romantic and passionate. ooh! and the movie "big night" --evocative of a particular time and place and italian immigrant culture; and the culinary creations in that film are heartbreaking in their artistry. my favorite scene? the very last, for its simplicity and truth, and how that symbolism comes through in the plain omelet cooked with a fork and served up with a hunk of fresh bread.

find a way to incorporate food into a story so that it feels integral to the telling--either in tone, in metaphor, or maybe even as a character itself. i dunno. play around with it.