Category: writing exercise

Cozy Mystery, writing exercise, writing prompts

What Comes Next?

carolyncordon

So February is over now. I no longer ‘have to’ post a new writing prompt on this writer blog of mine, and instead I will be actually writing some prose of my own, primarily. Sure, some poetry will be written, because I can’t help myself. I’m addicted to those stripped back words, I admit it!

I will be doing the weekly writing prompt thing that I’ve written about previously though, so new writing ideas will still be emanating from this blog, as well as other writing related things. It would be good if I can get a decent bit of my first Cosy Murder Mystery story written, so I can post an excerpt of it here … 

I learned a number of useful things in February, as I posted the daily writing prompts, and responded to them myself. I learned that having a daily program of writing, every single day, makes it a habit, and the writing simply comes along, because that’s what I now do after breakfast, every day.

I also learned that if you post every day, you definitely increase the number of readers you get to your blog! I sort of knew that, and now have the proof, right there in my blog stats. And I’m getting more likes, and a couple more people are writing a comment here and there, in response to what I’ve written, or the fact that I’ve written something.

Connections are always good, for writers! People interested in the written word, who like what you’ve written, great! And I’ve been expanding what I write, exploring things, doing new things, and that’s gone well too.

I’ve found also, that having prompts, leads to the feeling that what I will be writing has some kind of purpose, and so I put more of my attention into getting it right, as well as getting it written. 

And putting the word out about the writing prompts made it feel like it was something I had to do, so I kept it up, easily, it was just what I had to do in the morning, once I’d finished having my breakfast. Get up from the table, go to laptop, switch it on, and post the writing prompt. Done.

Yes, I’ve enjoyed this, but my next writing mission is to actually get a much larger prose piece written, an actual book, in fact a series of books. And once that first book in the series is written, time to get onto (or back onto) the second book in the series. And get feedback on the first book, edit in response to feedback, and then work at getting it published, another form of writing-related fun!

And then theres that new poetry collection … I have nearly seventy poems for it, I think, and I have a few of the prompts from February that didn’t end up with poems written, so I’ll have to get that all done. A job for later on today, I think. I have time for that right now, so I’ll get it done, right now.

I am going to post a new writing promt still, but it will be happening only once a week, probably on Monday, so this isn’t the end really, it’s the beginning of something easier, and less of a ‘burden’. Not that it was actually a burden to do these prompts, I enjoyed it. But my prose didn’t happen, when I want it to get going … Poetry/prose. Prose/poetry … I can do both, if I give myself the necessary time for both, which is why the once a week prompts are happening instead of daily ones. All good!

Writing, writing exercise, writing prompts

Fab Feb Writing Prompts – Day Five

carolyncordon

As they say in the James Bond movie – Never Say Never!

Actually, feel free to say Never, say the word, and write about it! Today is the day for it, because the word NEVER is the writing prompt for today, the fifth day of February. It’s a trick word, never. We may say, in our earlier lives would never do this or that or the other, in our lives. But we grow up, see things, like things, accept things, and our thoughts  grow, and change, as we get older, living, leaning, losing, lazing about!

As youngsters, we have we may have declared, ‘I’ll never ever do that!’, only to realise, as you’ve aged, you’d be quite happy to do that thing now, because you can see the wisdom of doing that very thing, whatever it is.

For me, my personal most unfavoured food that I now love to eat, is mushrooms. I hadn’t self-declared as a no mushroom eater, when I was a child, as such, I simply never ate them, if and when, they appeared on my dinner plate. Then pizzas came into the world (or at least my pre-teen world) and I discovered that mushrooms are actually quite tasty!

food wood kitchen cutting board
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

So I went from never eating mushrooms, to eating these tasty and healthy foods quite often. So much for that word, never! 

Is there anything you never do, or never have done? Personally, I’ve never bungie jumped. I’m not saying I’ll never done it, and it’s difficult to see any circumstances occuring where I’ll have the opportunity to do it, but who knows, I might well give it a go!

Last year, I certainly learnt a lesson in using that word Never. My mother and I were chatting at our usual Friday catch up, about how neither of us had ever broken a bone, even though there were certainly times when we could have. And then, the next day, what did I do? I fell over and broke my ankle – in fact two bones in my ankle!
(If you want to, you can read more about it here, at another of my blogs.) That blog post, and many of the ones that follow are about my ankle, it was my major focus for the three months that followed. I’m going to be more careful about using this bog word, Never, in the future!

20191114_111847

ouch, my poor ankle! But hey, I’m a writer, and I wrote about my ankle, and had a book published with the poems I wrote when I was laid up, with instructions to not put any weight on my right foot! And here it is, my beautiful little book!

20191122_122645

If there’s anything you’ve never done, or would never do, are you sure about that? Never vote for ? or never have a ? as a pet? You never really know what might happen, how circumstances might change, and how your knowledge about things may change too, based on further relevant information. 

 

So today’s prompt, is ************** NEVER************ 

 

You could write a list poem, containing all of the things you would or wouldn’t ever do. 

Or you could write a list of ‘Never Do This’ things, make it sensible, or funny, give examples, save lives or make people giggle, take this any way you want. I would say ‘Never break your ankle!’

Or you could do something else entirely, based on your thoughts about that word, ‘Never’.

poetry, writing exercise, writing prompts

Today – Writing Prompts Begin!

carolyncordon

Today is the first day of February, and is the first day of the Fabulous February, Prompt of the Day fun! I hope you will join in, check out daily, what the prompt of the day is, and write something new, based on the prompt of the day.

I’m excited about this idea, and hope to have lots of people come along and get involved too! Sometimes all it takes is a random prompt and the words can begin to flow! So lets all have a Fabulous February, with the words Flowing Freely, every single day of February.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

And on that note, a poem, the first of many for February, I hope, an important poem, that tells you what the first prompt of this project is! So, take a look, read the poem, and go!

**************************************************

The First Prompt for Fabulous February!

 

Excited by the fun, I jumped the gun – 

got mixed up with the days,

now, laughter at my silly ways.

 

All good now, and I humbly bow …

please settle for the start,

prepare to take part …

 

This month long task, a bit of an ask

but I’m good and ready

my resolve is steady

 

For Twenty-Twenty, I’ve Vision aplenty –

let’s have a ball, 

with poetry for all!

 

Switch the creative light on, what do you write on?

A secret, to hush?

No, the first prompt is – RUSH!

 

 

So there it is, I’m ready, and I hope your’re ready too, to get your writing happening, creaticely, for every day in February!

Yes, I’ve had a RUSH of ideas, and I hope it brings cheers!

 

poetic forms, writing exercise

Scaled Back, Life & Poems

carolyncordon

Yes, I currently have a very much scaled back life at the moment. I recently broke my right ankle, and am in recovery mode, having been told by the surgeon who operated on my ankle, to stick to zero weight bearing. This means I currently am spending most of my time resting my ankle, with it up high, to reduce swelling, and increase healing (I hope).

I could have been using this scaled back time to work on a larger writing project, but my brain and inclination are not heading in that direction, I’m feeling much more interested in poetry right now, so that’s where my writing is going. That and blog posts, such as this one. Oh, and some thoughts about Stoicism and how it can apply to life situations.

That is being kept to myself at the moment, with notes on my laptop that are definitely not for publication as they are, and not for quite some time later, anyway. They may appear in part in a much longer non-fiction tome, sometime.

Anyway, scaled back poetry interests me – I love Haiku and Senryu, the Tanka as well, and I have recently found (online), a scaled back version of writing sonnets. I love sonnets, a mere fourteen lines, in particular rhyming schemes, and beautiful thoughts can be expressed. This new (to me) form though has only one syllable per line, though if maintains the sonnets 14 line needs, as well as the rhyming scheme.

I wrote more about this on a previous blog post, here, If you wish to look more closely into this sonnet form, called the Monosyllabic Sonnet, visit the blog post. I write about sonnets in general and this form in particular, with an example.

I wrote a new piece of text today, based on something in this room, something that happens often in this room, the one I have been spending so much time in, as I work on recovering from my accidental fall and consequent broken bones. I have presented the words I wrote, again in a one word and syllable per line, and I think it looks and reads quite well. I could be delusional, who knows, and at the moment, amusing myself is my main desire …

So here it is, an new thing that may or may not be a poem, which I will call “My Obs”. The term “obs” loomed large in my life when I was in three different hospitals recently, with my obs being taken by nurses often during both the day, and through the night too. Their role is to make sure I’m OK, taking my pulse, heart rate, temperature, and oxygen levels (or I think that’s what they were doing).

Anyway, as a writer and poet, my observations are my ever ready sources of writing material, so I’d be a fool not to use them! and here is today’s “My Obs” poem, my first ever, THE first ever:

To my dog, Missy

Dear

friend,

your 

sleep

sounds

don’t 

seem

too

bad

but 

please,

if 

you 

must 

snore,

shh

keep

it

down

low,

please?

Good

girl.

 

 

^-^

\
o

 

poetry, writing exercise

Two-by-Four, a new (to me) Poetry Form

carolyncordon

 

I recently discovered a new form of short poetry, the Two-by-Four. It is a poem of two words to a line, over four lines. I found it on the website of a South Australian poet Paul Szlosek, who has a fine interest in poetics and writers/writing. I love short forms of poetry, and this one is a neat little package, with no time for wasting words, ideal for readers with no time to waste!

In the original form there was no title, but I’m inclined to go along the way the website owner I mentioned went, and use titles, in the interest of clarity of understanding. This is the link for that website, go along there, to read more about it. Then come back here and read my own attempts are writing Two-by-Fours. And after that, why not have a try yourself, and to write some of your own Two-by-Fours!

Not Me

Some people

say poetry

must rhyme –

I don’t …

 

 

Political Correctness

More than

anything else,

it’s just

being nice …

Well that was fun to do, and if a writer can write two fine pieces of work in less that half an hour, then that is a fine form of writing for sure. I’m quite happy with this little poetic form, for sure, and I can see myself writing many more of them in the future!

Thank you very much Paul, for bringing this form of short poetry into my poetry world! If you have any thoughts about these little poems feel free to leave  a comment!