I came up with this semi-random set of writing prompts today, and if I ever run out of things to write about, I know I can look at this list, and there will be something to write about. Surely if I can do this in about half an hour, which includes the time it took to prepare my lunch of bits and pieces that are in that bowl, then I can always finbd things to write about.
If I can do this, can you do it too? How do you find things to write about? Do you struggle with that idea, or is it easy? I’d love to know your answer to the question, please leave your answer in the comments!
Hmm, I was expecting, or at least hoping, to have gained some kind of response from others, in relation to my previous blog post. I know, or at least thought, that Scrabble is a game much loved by wordsmiths … I certainly enjoy playing Scrabble, with its focus on words, placed strategically, surely those are skills of writers!
A large vocabulary is a benefit to both writers and Scrabble players. But knowing words, without having the strategic smarts to place them for maximum scoring options, or having the misfortune to just get useless letters, can lead to bad/losing scores in games, as I well know.
Anyway, even though I posted a poem, with zero responses to it, that won’t stop me writing poetry. I am my first reader of my won poetry, and I am the reader I must satisfy first, before my poems go any further.
And I enjoy writing blog posts too, and having one or two, or ten or twelve readers (or more) of my blog posts is a satisfying thing. I read of bloggers with thousands of readers, and followers, but if I am able to connect, fully connect with few others, I am happy those followers are people of quality, who are, or become my friends, whether or not we will ever actually connect in real life.
I have various fun ways to get my words ‘out there’ another favourite of mine is in being Editor of the Mallala Crossroad Chronicle, the monthly newsletter I put together then have printed, and then pick up and distribute around Mallala and beyond. I also put it up online on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/40710
My husband (Graham) and I have been playing Scrabble every day or so lately, and while we had almost finished the game in the photo, I had an idea. I often have ideas, some of them big ones, others not so big. Some fun things, some serious ones.
Anyway, I was looking at the various words on the Scrabble board, and thought about what an interesting mix of words we had there. That thought led to the almost inevitable idea of, why don’t I do something with that random mix of words, something fun, for me, and for my writing friends. My writing group and the radio station I’m involved with, have fun with five word challenges, to come up with a winning piece of writing, to win a bottle of wine (for the writing group) or to simply have your words read by someone involved with the PBA FM ‘Words Out Loud’ radio program.
Anyway, my idea is this –
Look at the Scrabble Board, and write something, using as many of these words as possible (perhaps aim at having at least twelve of the words in your piece of writing). Poetry or Prose, Sensible or Silly, Fact or Fiction, go for it! If you write something that leads to an award winning story, or film, please remember where the initial idea came from, and mention my name!
With the blank tiles, one of them is simple – it is a ‘u’ (aqua) and the other is not so simple, it is an ‘e’. You can use the words as they are on the board, or with ‘s’ or ‘ing’ added or removed if you wish , but perhaps no other changes that can’t have been actual words possibly scored for this game. There are a number of ways you may wish to go with this idea. Perhaps you might try writing a piece using only words that are on the board (a very, very short piece of flash fiction). Or you may wish to write something using words from the Scrabble board, but other words as needed, as well. Up to you, of course!
If you enjoy this little writing exercise, please let me know, and I may do it all again, after another game. Graham and I know lots of words, about many, many different things. Some of the words may have been new to one or other of us, and learning new words is always a good thing to come from a good and interesting game of Scrabble!
I’m not saying who won this game, but as far as I can see, on looking back at the scores we have, this game had the highest score for one of the two players, so far. Scrabble is a fun game, and really rewards players who are readers, and who have a wide range of subjects they read about.
I’m going to write a very short piece, using other words as well, and post it in the comments. You might wish to do the same, up to you.
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I ended up with a poem, not a story, but it’s very much a story poem, a narrative poem, scaled right back … I’ve put the poem in the comments section.
Books in the fridge? What madness is thins, who would put books in a fridge? It may seem like a weird and way out thing, but in the small South Australian town of Mallala, there a brightly coloured fridge carefully placed just on the other side of the fence, so it’s between the Dublin Road, and a house. that is loaded up with books.
I know about this strange thing, and I was happy to be able to go along and have a look. The fridge is actually a Little Free Library ! If you’ve never heard of Little Free Libraries, they are tiny libraries, most often out in the open, often near someone’s home. That ‘someone’ may be the ‘steward’ who looks after the Little Free Library. There is more information about this cute little book homes here – Little Free Library
I’d heard of these little book halfway homes before, but had never actually seen one, even though I certainly thought about the possibility of having one myself. I decided my house doesn’t have enough traffic pass through it to make it a viable option for me. So, like some other good ideas, nothing more came of it.
I still love books, and libraries though, for sure. So when a resident at my closest town put up a notice on a Facebook Page I have, Mallala Crossroad Chronicle, I immediately wanted to help out, with further advertising this wonderful service. The town of Mallala certainly has a normal library, inside a room at the Adelaide Plains Council building in Mallala, but that is only open twice a week, for a few hours on each of those days.
Now, Mallala has its own Little Free Library, and yes, it’s inside a fridge! This fridge is an old fridge, that was bought and painted in bright colours to make it beautiful, and also obvious. If you drive past the house where the fridge is place in front of, you can miss seeing the Little Free Library.
So I got some more information about this Little Free Library, from the people at whose house the fridge is, and I put it on the front cover of the May issue of the Mallala Crossroad Chronicle. This a newsletter that I edit, that comes out once a month. So on the front cover of the May 2020 issue of the Chronicle is the story all about the Mallala Little Free Library. Christine, the woman whose idea it was, wrote the article, and provided me with a great photograph of the fridge/Little Free Library.
If you go here, and scroll down, you’ll find another photo of the Library, as well as a little bit about it all. I’ve been thinking about taking a look at this library ever since I heard about it last month, and today, when I visited my mother, she gave me two books for me to take along and put in the library! I was thrilled, finally, I would finally get there! So I did. I opened the fridge door, and there were many, many books! Grown up’s books, and children’s books, fiction and non fiction, lots of lovely pre-loved books.
So I placed the two books from my mother into the library, and took out four books to bring home. One of the books I took, I will give to my mum, and the others I will keep. I’m going to take some of the books I have at home, to the Mallala Little Free Library soon, perhaps tomorrow. I have lots of books, and sharing them feels like a good thing to do!
Have you heard about Little Free Libraries before? Do you have one at your place? This is a big thing, a world wide thing, and sharing books with others is surely a fine thing to do! I’d love to hear any thoughts you have about it!
When you write creatively, you’re a writer. Many of us take a long tome to actually acknowledge this, and claim the title, but it’s true, if you write, you’re a writer. And if what you write is poetry, then guess what, you’re a poet. The words don’t have to be published, or even shared with anyone else. There are many writers and poets who have many written words tucked away, hidden from the world that may be desperate to read those words, without realising, as you don’t realise it either.
So, there are many of us writers and poets. And of the many out there, what we all love is getting an inspiration, that lights the fire of our imagination and mind, and the words come. For some they feel they need that inspiration to come from something within themselves, or from Nature, or some such thing. Others feel fine using writing exercises, and things such as a five word challenge can be their inspiration.
Or an inspiration can be a happy accident, where two different things come together, adding up to, not two, but fifteen, and something far greater than the sum of its parts has emerged. Certainly, I feel my current writing adventure was one of those happy accidents, where a phrase, and an idea have come together, and an Anthology is on its way to coming into the world.
I enjoy five word challenges too though, and am finding that the more often I do them, the better I get at doing them. I know many of my writing friends enjoy doing five word challenges, because members of writing groups I’m involved in do them, and produce marvellous pieces of writing with them.
Nature, though, Nature is my biggest inspiration, in my life, and in my writing. My usual writing position at home, during the day, gives me a window into Nature, with flowers, trees, creatures, and the sky all bringing me peace, ideas, and conflict too, sometimes – all inspirational.
My front yard inspiration
Today I was watching an ant. It was in my back yard, I was standing watching the goings on in and around some ant nests, and one ant was carrying something, so I decided to watch where it would take it. WE often think of ants as being purposeful workers, but this ant wandered around one tiny area, about 30cm x 30cm, carrying that burden over difficult areas, backwards forwards, over and under weeds, toward a next hole and away, back again. Then I looked away and the ant was gone!
Well the ant of course could have still been there, because there were ants all around the nests, but I couldn’t see one carrying that piece of whatever it was. And of course, to me, all of the ants around that nest look exactly the same. I was only able to see that particular ant because of the ‘whatever it was’ it had been carrying. So, burden gone, interest gone? No not really – the idea of carrying a burden, a thing, giving one a sense of purpose is definitely an interesting idea to write about, in many ways.
What could it mean to the one with the burden, or to be burdened and to put it down, and go back to normal life. Does carrying, or having a possession make you more important than others, or give you a sense of purpose? These ideas could certainly be inspirations for many kinds of writing.
Inspiration is the thing that takes our writing from ordinary, to something more, something greater, from the mundane to meaningful and perhaps magnificent. Use the world as your inspiration and look with eyes, and mind, and all of your other senses, if need be. Inspiration fed gives much to the writer, seek it, feed it, benefit from it. The world needs your words!
Carolyn Cordon - Creative 