A Springtime Photo Prompt Exercise

Spring is just around the corner here in Kansas. At least, it seems so with the mild temperatures we've had recently. 

The photo poster above seems perfect for a photo prompt exercise. To do this exercise, go through the following checklist:

• Study the photo--take some time, don't just look and move on
• Jot down all the colors you see
• 'Where do you think this might be?
• Who do you think the woman is"
• What is she doing in the garden?
• Is she waiting for someone?
• Has she run away from someone?
• Is she happy or sad? Or frightened? Or angry?
• Where does the garden path lead?
• What time of day is it?
• What does the air feel like? Smell like?
• Show rather than tell

Now, write a paragraph or a few paragraphs after you've gone through the checklist. Be descriptive. Use sensory details. Show emotion. Have fun with this!

The Taste of a Lemon and Other Things, Too

Last week, I offered a post on the sense of hearing with an exercise to help writers develop that sense in their writing. If you missed it, read it here. Today, let's look at the sense of taste. After all, Americans are going to be tasting a lot of foods in a couple of days as we celebrate Thanksgiving.

When we write about food, we don't want to be generic and say The pie tasted good. or This lemon is sour. Go for more than that. The pie tasted sweet and creamy, sliding smoothly down my throat. or My lips puckered and my eyes watered as I stuffed the half-lemon into my mouth with a grimace.

Write a line or two about each of the tastes below. It's not only food that we taste. 

• toothpaste
• gravy
• chocolate chip cookies
• cough syrup
• Coconut cream pie
• chocolate
• hot peppers
• chewing gum
• cigarette
• mashed potatoes
• cranberry sauce
• cinnamon
• licorice
• beer
• ice cream

Have you noticed that your taste changes as you move from childhood to adulthood and even on to senior citizen status? Things I hated as a child are some of my favorites now. Do our taste buds actually mature? 

For a second exercise, write a paragraph about the taste you like most and the one you dislike so much it makes you shudder. 

Finding Your Inner Awesome As a Writer

Have you found your inner awesome, or are you still searching for it? One way to find it is to keep doing writing exercises. I've shared the photo prompt exercise with you and the freewrite exercise on several posts. I've given you lists of questions to use to trigger your memories to use as an exercise. We've done the "I remember..."

Friday, I reviewed Marlene Cullen's latest book meant to help beginning and intermediate writers through the use of prompts. Marlene uses them regularly. Check out some of her prompts here. 

If you're a writer who has a hard time coming up with new topics, writing prompts could be of great help. 

Here is a list to get you started on a new writing project:

• write about a dream you had.
• write about the worst teacher you had.
• write about a favorite dish your mother mad.
• write about your best friend in grade school.
• write about the person you avoided in school.
• write about your sixteenth birthday.
• write about your most memorable Christmas.
• write about your cousins.
• write about the best house you ever lived in.
• write about your favorite pet.
• write about the chore you hated the most.
• write about your favorite books.
• write about your wedding.

I could go on and on, but you should be able to find something that lets your fingers tap the keyboard. When you use one of the prompts, don't write a report...this happened, then that happened, then... Instead, write giving a sense of place, some emotion, description, sensory details, and active verbs. 

Do the above and you may find your inner awesome flashing like a neon sign. 

Write Your Thoughts About March

The Proverbial Lamb and Lion

As an exercise, today, write anything about March. Tell us the feelings that emerge from deep within when you turn your calendar page to this third month of the year.

What memories do you have from your childhood about March? Were there any foods your mother always made something in that month? Did you celebrate any holidays, family birthdays or other important events? What about the kind of clothes you needed during these 31 days?  I feel family stories popping up here.

Try to include many active verbs. Let your reader 'see' what you're writing about. For further triggers to your memories of March, I have included the result of this exercise when I did it several years ago.

Hoping your memories and exercise might produce a brand new piece of writing you can use in a writing project or a stand-alone you can submit to an editor. These exercises are meant as practice but also to aid in coming up with more than the exercise alone.

Musing on March (written about 2014)
By Nancy Julien Kopp

Today in Kansas, March slipped in like a sweet little lamb. She brought clear skies, sunshine and 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 of them 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, allowing my children to have an extra day of Spring Break. The best part about March snow or ice is that it rarely lasts more than one day.

Welcome, March!

The Biggest Benefit Of Freewriting Exercises

Too many writers thumb their noses at writing exercises. I want to write. I don't want to do exercises. That's the thinking of many.  But guess what? These writing exercises can only help you become a better writer. 

The one I especially like is the freewriting exercise. 

What is the freewriting exercise?  Find a word (more on that later). Set a timer for 10 minutes. Type the word. Then let your fingers go as fast as possible with whatever the word brings to mind. Keep typing the full ten minutes. Don't stop to read over what you've written, don't stop to correct a word or punctuation, don't stop until the timer goes off. 

It doesn't matter if all that you have written is coherent or not. Some of it will be. And sometimes the entire thing is perfectly put together. The word you selected will trigger your innermost thoughts if you keep writing and let them come from the recesses of your mind. 

How do I select the word?  Open any book--dictionary, a novel or a book of poetry--close your eyes and point. Wherever your finger lands is the word you use for your exercise. Don't keep repeating until you find a word you think you like. Use the first one. It's always interesting to see what comes from a word like rapid or blinking. 

In my online writing group, one person selects the word for the week and sends it to the other members. Then, those who choose to do the exercise, send the result to the entire group. It is always interesting to see the many different angles taken on the same word. 

Does what I write have to be real or can it be fiction? You can go either way. One woman I know often takes the word and twists it into the name of a fictional person, then she writes the full ten minutes about that person, creating a story as she goes. Remember that she does not stop and think, just lets the words come for the full ten minutes. Some will be gibberish but some will create a story. You can also write about your feelings about whatever the word brings to mind. There is no set pattern.

What is the biggest benefit of freewriting?  The biggest benefit is allowing those things locked away in your mind to emerge. Maybe there's a topic you've tried to write about but get stuck every time. Your outer self doesn't want to let the inner self out of hiding. Why? There's a bit of fear involved. That wondering if I should expose my innermost self to others. But that's what good writers do. Readers look for writers who can express emotion and tell a story that will touch the reader. We can't do that if we put restraints on ourselves. Practicing freewriting helps unleash the writer within.

How often should I do a freewriting exercise?  That's up to the writer but, like most things, the more often you do it the bigger the benefit. Why not use that 10 minute exercise as the start to your writing session each day, or whenever you make time to write? Let it be your springboard. 

My observation of my group's freewriting exercises.  I have seen some profound statements within those exercises of my fellow writers. I've seen the bones of an essay or short story to be fleshed out later. I have had a chance to look into the heart and soul of the writers in my group. 

To give you a jumpstart, here's a list of words to use for a freewriting exercise, then try opening a book and pointing to find a word to use:

• mule
• bugle
• sky
• circus
• blood

• 
  

Flint Hills Phtoto Prompt Exercise

Today's photo prompt exercise is going to challenge your imagination. This is a scene of the tallgrass prairie that surrounds our community. I've often thought that we could be a runner up to Montana's nickname of Big Sky Country.

Study this picture for awhile and use your imagination. Who or what is beyond the hill? What has happened here? What might happen later? What time period is it? What season? Ask yourself many questions before you begin to write.

Try more than one writing. Go in different directions. Remember that these exercises can result in a full story, essay or article that can be submitted to an editor. They are good practice but also used for inspiration.

Try One Or All Three Picture Prompts

Time for a photo prompt exercise. Autumn pictures are so great that I've chosen three for you. Pick one and write a story or a few paragraphs to go with it. Or, do one for each of the pictures. You might also write a poem.

This is not punishment. This is not a chore. This is a writing exercise to flex your writer's muscles. This is to help you find some inspiration. This is to aid you in writing something you can submit to a publication. Go!

Where is he going? Why? Who is waiting for him?

Who grew this produce? Who will harvest it? Who will cook it?

Who lives here? Where did the bubbles come from?