Twenty-six days ago, I used this poster to welcome the new month. Those days have slipped by quickly offering many changes. October offers numerous topics for us to write about. Think back to your growing-up days as well as the present time.
Some of the topics October offers:
- crisp, cool mornings
- warm, sunny afternoons
- blustery days with leaves swirling
- an occasional rainy day
- pumpkins to harvest or purchase
- Fire Prevention Awareness month
- football games
- shorter days
- Halloween costumes, parades and celebrations
- Columbus Day
- fall decorations
- fall flowers--asters and mums
- Homecoming activities in high schools and universities
- colorful leaves on trees
- falling leaves
- raking leaves
- foods featuring apples, pumpkins or squash
- fall arts and crafts festivals
- state fairs in the warmer states
- furnaces instead of air-conditioners
Writing Exercises:
1. Choose any of the topics above and do a ten-minute free-write. Fingers to the keys, type non-stop for the full time, then see what you produced. If you like what you've written, keep going. Or if you see the bones of a story or essay, spend more time fleshing it out.
2. Choose one of the topics that deals with weather and write a paragraph or two using descriptive adjectives and sensory details to bring the reader into your rainy day, or crisp, cold mornings or a sunny afternoon. Consider October as you write
3. Choose one of the October celebration days and write a few paragraphs using sensory details and descriptive adjectives.
4. Choose the fall foods and write a family story including those foods.
Writing exercises are one of the tools writers can and should use on a regular basis. It's no different than a football player practicing tackles or a basketball player who shoots baskets from every angle on the court. Athlete or artist, we're all trying to improve our skill.
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