Writing Prompt – Under The Weather

Today’s Story Spark/Writing Prompt is an example of how you can use events from your real life (I was really under the weather, as you can hear).

There are lots of events we’d rather not live through in our lives. Why not exorcise the demons, by inflicting them on our characters.

Things going to easily for your character, as they scale the rockface to rescue the kitten? Make them do it while battling a nasty head cold! Boss cut back your hours? Throw the same challenge at your protagonist and let them act out your wildest revenge fantasies or let them be the best, most resourceful version that you hope you will be. Inspire yourself!

Keep writing!

A New Year’s Eve Challenge

Do this before midnight…

Decide.

That’s it.

Decide that you are a writer.

(Decide: from the Latin deciderer- ‘to cut off’.)

When you decide to do something your brain stops worrying about “if” and starts working on “how”. And that’s how things get done.

Let’s cut off all the prevarication, the shilly -shallying, the ‘maybe I can wriggle out of the hard work by pretending I’m not really that bothered about being a writer’, the ‘maybe someone else will write the book my audience needs, and I’m ok with that’. Leave all that in the year that is ending.

Continue reading “A New Year’s Eve Challenge”

Tell Me What You Want

(What you really, really want…)

At some point, you started following me: maybe for writing prompts (like these), maybe for inspiration and recommendations (like this), or maybe for something else entirely.

As I hatch plans for the coming year, I’d love to know how I can help you, best?

What do you need more of? What could you take less of?

How can I help you pursue your dreams?

I’d love it if you’d fill out this 2-question survey

(People often find that answering the questions helps them clarify where they need to focus.)

If you didn’t make it to our Annual Planning Workshop, this week, this exercise can be a springboard into your own end-of-year assessment/planning.

​Answer the questions here​

Keep writing,

Julie

Release The Hounds (aka ‘your stories’)

As I sit here, thinking about what I want to achieve over the next year as a writer, that generosity of spirit is something I want to keep in focus…

Note: I might be writing this message for myself.

One of the best things I did for myself this year was to take a chance on a book of poetry: Poetry Unbound by Pádraig Ó Tuama

(This is why I will never give up on physical bookstores and libraries: the sheer joy of stumbling across books and taking a chance on them!)

I’m not a poetry expert and often find books of poetry unsatisfying, as I sit there thinking, “‘what am I supposed to get from this? What am I missing?”

Well, Ó Tuama’s book follows up each poem with an essay in which he tells you what he loves about the poem. It’s not prescriptive. It’s not an attempt to tell you what you should get out of the poem, but it does offer a way in.

A Great Start To The Day

Every day that I start by reading a poem and essay from this book, is a good day.

I start my day thinking about words and what can be done with them.

I start my day thinking about how words affect the people who read them.

I start my day with black and white proof that it is possible to use words to share tiny moments and experiences, to be brave enough to put them out into the world, and to find other people who will be moved by them.

And that’s a pretty good way to start the day.

Borrowed focus.

Borrowed courage.

A chipping-away of my excuses.

Do The Work

In a recent conversation with one of the StoryADay Superstars she talked about a gift she made for her brother.

It was challenging (so much that she put off starting, for years), it was a little beyond her skill set (so much that it was imperfect) AND yet she resolved to finish it and give it to her brother anyway.

Of course, he loved it.

He saw all the things that were right with it, not the few tiny details that could maybe have been neater…

Perfectionism Generosity

As I sit here thinking about what I want to achieve over the coming year as a writer, that generosity of spirit is something I want to keep in mind: a willingness to finish things and share them, and let them be enjoyed.

To not withhold.

To not be arrogant enough to think I’ll ever ‘get it right’.

To be bold enough to finish and share my stories.

How about you?

What inspires you? What gives you courage? What’s the best thing you’ve done for yourself over the past year? What’s the most generous thing you will do, in the coming year?

Lessons in microfiction

Look how these five words transform everything…

Someone sent me this, this morning and a, haha, of course! And b, look how the last line turns this into an actual story…

The last line, just five words, puts the reader into a specific moment. Something is happening. We have a character to root for. Stakes! Suspense! (Ok, mild suspense but still).

That line alone transforms the whole thing from an funny observation into a story.