Tag Archives: moment of writing zen

Weekly Writing Prompt, , , , , ,

Writers:

As I pen this it’s been raining for 32 hours straight. Perhaps we should be crafting arks and not novels. Of course, there’s at least a few of us working on ARCs right now. hehe.
Hey, if we’re not trying to laugh at this point in the winter/spring of never-ending rain…you know what they say, “Tears in the rain….”
Last week I told you I was trying desperately to find someone to sub for our April 15 workshop; however, I have not been successful as of yet. Worse case scenario, the time and space will be there for those who are not attending NorWesCon to have some quiet heads-down writing time in a different space. Sometimes moving locations helps spur creativity. But, once again, I will continue to find a solution. I heard from a couple of you that you decided to attend this convention and I’m thrilled to hear that. Again, it’s local, very affordable for the whole weekend and chock-full of writing panels and inspirational programming. So that is still very much an option for anyone not already attending.
Regardless, there is much work to still be done on our track of Level Up Your Writing! So far you’ve looked at lots of mechanical things — description, dialogue, lay out. Now we’re going to start looking at themes in the story and the tools used to reveal them. So take your chosen text and re-read as necessary, making note of themes. Maybe take a few minutes and journal out thoughts about what you think the themes are in the novel you’ve chosen. The biggest thing I want you doing is thinking about the text and deeply considering it. Next week there will be more definitive exercises, but thinking is part of the creative and learning process. We’re at that stage in this examination, so give yourself permission to just think.
Want to also tell you all about an event that’s headed our way on April 27:  Wine & Words at the Black Dog. So pencil in that early evening for a literary event that I hope will become a regular one. More details next week. Just mark your calendar today.
Also, I was trying to update the blogs on both my personal site as well as SnoValley Writes! some of them are linking to blogs that have disappeared. Please take one minute and respond to me with the link to your most current or “main” blog. Thanks.
Don’t forget our weekly writing cafes Tonight at Little Si Cafe beginning at 6 p.m. and Friday morning at The Black Dog Arts Cafe at 9:30 a.m.
Now your moment of Writing Zen:

“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter. ’tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” ~Mark Twain

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What did you Write today?
~Casz

Casondra Brewster
Moderator/Founder
Sno Valley Writes!
Helping Writers Reach New Literary Peaks Since 2008
http://www.snovalleywrites.org
Check us out on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/SnoValleyWrites

“But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” ~ Lord Byron

Weekly Writing Prompt — May 22, 2013 Edition

Weekly Writing Prompt, ,

Writers:

Feels like June-uary has set in a bit early this year. Have faith, I think we’ll be blessed with a pleasant enough weekend. Take the time away from outdoor activities and get some writing done (at least for my household the rain is a welcome respite from baseball, gardening/urban farming, constant dog-walking).
Put May 28 on your calendar. That’s our next work shop. 6 p.m. until about 7:45 p.m. (we need to be out of the North Bend Library’s meeting room by 8 p.m.). Please RSVP. Also, this is important. Bring three copies of something to share. We’ll be concentrating on providing critique and feedback. Remember if you’re a King County Library Card holder, you can print up to 75 pages off of their printers for free each month. Copier is available, too; but that’s like $.10 a page. Please keep the selected work to like one chapter of a novel, 3 to 5 pages of poetry, a short story, etc. If you have doubts, contact me and let me know.
Speaking of workshops, if you liked the last workshop, please leave a comment on website under this posting (see the link in the signature line), and tell everyone your experience. If there was something you’d like to see — or something you didn’t like, leave that comment as well. Comments help us in several ways. First it helps provide more for what the group needs in the way of “learning.” It also helps SnoValley Writes! increase its traffic on the web site. We need to see some increase on the traffic, or perhaps move to no longer go through the expense and energy of having a web site.
Enough administrative minutia. Time for writing focus.
Today’s writing prompt is to free write for 10 minutes on these selected sentences, meaning start each free-write off with these sentences. Set a timer for 10 minutes and stop when it goes off. Move on to the next sentence and repeat.
Sentence One:  “I couldn’t believe that I would have gotten this far if not for…..”
Sentence Two:  “What I couldn’t say was….”
Sentence Three:  “What I really wanted to say was….”
This continues with our “mining our lives for writing material” theme we had from the last work shop. We will likely continue this type of exercise in our weekly prompts for some time. If you have success in creating a story from these prompts, please let us know.
And now your moment of Writing Zen:
“What do you want? What are you willing to give up to get it? Writing requires you make sacrifices. Be prepared to work hard to be a writer.”
― Sandra Brown
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What did you Write today?
~Casz

Casondra Brewster
Moderator/Founder
Sno Valley Writes!
Helping Writers Reach New Literary Peaks Since 2008
http://www.snovalleywrites.org
Check us out on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/SnoValleyWrites

“But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” ~ Lord Byron

Weekly Writing Prompt — March 14, 2012 Edition

Weekly Writing Prompt, , , , , , , , ,

Happy Pi Day all. Be sure to get some Pie today as well. Treat yourself. Apple-pie making in the happening over in these parts.

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So how many days this week did you do your morning pages? What? You haven’t been journaling? You haven’t been getting that mental debris out — the stuff that keeps your creativity blocked?

Have you given yourself an artist date this week? Even just a trip to a favorite retailer for some fun stickers and a new journal? How about to a book signing? A new art exhibit? Hear a new band? If you did, how did it feel? What did you do? What do you plan to do this week?

For those that missed the work session on Sunday, we’ve started the journey of The Artist’s Way (A path to higher creativity). Having done the formal program twice personally, beginning it with a group is fabulous. It has that much more meaning. For those that have had a hard time making time for your creativity — or spending too much time on your shadow art as opposed to the art you’re impassioned about (e.g. writing), this will be a great exercise for you. It will take us many months to do, but I hope that you will see this as a course in discovering and recovering your best creative self yet. A self who is generative and prolific and a creative life that leaves you feeling satisfied.

The major tools in this journey are:

1) Morning pages: three hand-written, stream-of-consciousness pages you write every morning as soon as you wake up (before you do anything else). Write them in a notebook or journal so you can have them all in one place (currently, I have two completed Morning Page journals sitting on my bookshelf). I set my alarm :15 early to do this. My handwriting is not pretty; but, it clears the mind and is like a writing meditation. I can’t recommend this practice enough.
2) A weekly Artist Date: A commitment of time spent on yourself once a week; Time spent solely on you — no companions allowed; A date with your inner-artist, or your inner-child. For me, it was yesterday and getting a multi-flavored slurpee at 7-11 and to sit in the sunshine (albeit brief as it was in Seattle yesterday) and just watch the world go by. Oftentimes I walk down to the river and do yoga or just sit and watch the inner workings of the water, the trees, the birds and critters. I have also been known to pull the blinds and get out the kids coloring books and crayons and just color in superheros or Hello Kitty. It’s freeing and lets your brain recharge for productive creativity.
3) Daily Reading (which can be accomplished on Wednesdays by undertaking your weekly writing prompt from SnoValley Writes!) I do no less than :30 of reading a day. Non-fiction, fiction, it doesn’t matter. I have books everywhere — my car, the bathroom, my bedroom, my purse, my desk, the living room, even the kitchen. There’s no excuse for not reading every day.

Therefore your prompt this week is to try to accomplish these goals. I can’t recommend or encourage you strongly enough to really take these tasks to heart and do them. Reward yourself for each day you accomplish your morning pages; the artist date is a treat in itself. Do not turn out the lights at night until you’ve gotten in your :30 of reading.

Let me know by next Tuesday how you’re doing, too. Yes, I’m giving homework. Report back, please. I promise no tongue-lashings, just honest encouragement and understanding and all-out cheerleading-praise when appropriate. 

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Sometimes I carve out my artist date on either end of one of the Writing Cafes we host. The next is Friday’s DayTrippers from 9:30 a.m. to about noon-ish. Our dearest Takako Wright sends out the reminders for that. DayTrippers are tripping all over the valley for the next few weeks until the Black Dog returns to normal hours on Fridays. So, get the Email from Takako to find out where this week’s location is (her email is in the to line above).

Following that will be Mid-day Muse on Monday at Toad’s in North Bend. This is your reminder about that. 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (ish). Hope to see you there.

Then Tuesday is Writers Cafe at Carriage Insurance House in North Bend. The Incredible Sheri Kennedy will send out the reminders for that. 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.(her email is in the to line above).

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Make your reservations for Word Jazz now. April 10 at 7 p.m. at Boxley’s. It’s going to feature some of our best work yet. Be there or make us all very sad. 

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I am still in need of local literary legends for our first Literary Salon. Send me your suggestions now, please.

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And now your moment of Writing Zen:

“You need to claim the events of your life to make yourself yours.” ~Anne-Wilson Schaef
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What did you Write today?
~Casz

Casondra Brewster
Moderator/Founder
Sno Valley Writes!
Helping Writers Reach New Literary Peaks Since 2008
http://www.snovalleywrites.org
Check us out on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/SnoValleyWrites

“But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” ~ Lord Byron