New Month, New Story Ideas Needed, So...

We greet our third month of the year today. Not spring yet but getting close. In my part of the world--central Kansas--we'll see daffodils like the ones above before the end of the month. 

Do you need story ideas? Looking at a new month and pondering on what you did as a child when the third month arrived can help you come with with an idea. You Can do one of two activities to spark your imagination or to find some inspiration.

1.  Use these questions to trigger your memory. Use them in a memoir piece or base a fiction story on any one of them:

• What kind of climate changes did you see in March where you grew up?
• Did the bulletin boards and decorations change in your classroom on March 1st?
• Did your family celebrate St. Patrick's Day? If so, how? If not, why? 
• Did you still wear winter clothing or switch to lighter jackets etc?
• Did you ever fly a kite? Where?
• Did you ever make your own kite? 
• Did you have any religious holidays in March?
• What kind of flowers bloomed in your part of the country in March?
• What does the Ides of March mean to you?
• Do you remember when your parents worked on taxes in March?
• Did you celebrate the first day of Spring in March?
• Any special foods you ate in March? 

2.  Another activity is to free write about March for 10, 15, or 20 minutes. Write about this new month now and in the past, what it means to you, what you can expect to see--whatever comes to mind. Start writing and keep going until you run out of ideas. 

I did this exercise a few years ago and this is what came of it:

Musing On March

Most people know that old saying "If March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb." And it works in reverse, as well.

Today in Kansas, March slipped in like a sweet little lamb. She brought clear skies, sunshine and a temperature to reach 68 by mid-afternoon. What bliss after one of the worst winters Kansas has had in a long, long time.

Along with all those good things, March winds are going to blow today. They'll whip through the trees, which are still recovering from the devastation of the December ice storm. The wind will roll across the Flint Hills with glee, bending the prairie grasses like pieces of cooked pasta. The wind will skip across rivers, stir up the sand traps on golf courses, create havoc with hairdos and swirl dirt piles when found. It doesn't matter a bit, however, because those south winds bring warm air from the gulf to our state. So, blow wind, blow. Send kites dipping and dancing through the sky.

Our town has a St. Patrick's Day celebration that grows larger every year. A Blarney Breakfast, races for runners and walkers, and plenty of green beer highlight the day in an area near the Kansas State University campus. Irish music blares through loudspeakers, and on that particular Saturday, everybody is Irish! As for me, I'm Irish every day--at least half my heritage is from that green, green land.

This year, we also celebrate Easter in March, a holiday that is both religious and commercial. Whether you celebrate one part of both, it's an important part of the year. For me, Holy Week reigns, and I plan the rest of my activities around church services on Thursday, Friday and Sunday of that week. But I love the commercial part, too, the many decorations and early spring flowers, trees budding, lambs’ births--all those things that tell of rebirth and awakening. But don't all those things stem from the Easter story of the Resurrection? For me, they do.

One more thing March may bring is another snowstorm or possibly another ice storm. Kansas almost always gets snow at least once in this third month of the year. I remember one bad ice storm that frosted trees and shrubs in the middle of March one year. The best part about March snow or ice is that it rarely lasts more than one day.

Welcome March!