2021 Writing Exercise Series #119: Three Things, Five Words 12

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.

#119

Three Things, Five Words 12

For today's writing exercise you will write a piece of poetry or prose which contains the following three things, and these five individual words. The three things should be important to the piece, not just a throwaway reference used because it has to be. This is prompt time, baby! 

If you're not sure where to start, begin by finding a connection between two of the 'things'—whether that is a shared appearance, locale, one of the things might interact with another (or all three), some way that the two are likened or could be physically together. Use one of the things with two of the 'words' in the beginning of the piece and explore for a bit, knowing that you're aiming at the second ''thing' (where the two 'things' have their connection) about 1/3-1/2 of the way through what you imagine the length of the piece (which may be totally off). By then you should have a direction and it's off to the races, with that third 'thing' in your pathway to the finishing line.

'Three Things'

1. A Snorkel
2. Maple Syrup
3. A Flower Tattoo

'Five Words' 

Include these five words in your piece: 

Ford, Rooted, Bolivia, Beg, Vigor.

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If you'd like some background music to write to, try this "Lounge Piano Jazz for Working" mix.

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Hump Day Submission Carousel 14

#14: 4/28/21

It's Wednesday, so you know what that means! HUMP DAY SUBMISSIONS! Because it's easy to fall off the submission train during the week I'm presenting you with 3 cool and very different small journals currently open for submissions to save you research time! Pick one of the three journals presented and read some of the pieces in your genre. If you're not digging them, check the next journal. Don't agonize over it, if you're not enjoying the writing or you don't feel your writing would fit in there move along to the next journal. If none of them seem to fit... maybe next week? 

All journals this week also have deadlines this week, so get on them today! No bookmarking for later, you can do it!

Journal 1: Phantom Drift. Phantom Drift is a journal of 'new fabulist' writing in all genres. Click here for their submission guidelines. They read $3 submissions via Submittable  with an APRIL 30th DEADLINE! That's soon so get on it! 

Fiction: We are looking for fabulist flash fiction and short stories. We like stories that favor the unusual over the usual; we like stories that create a milieu where anything can happen. Stories can take the form of myth or fable. They can invent or suggest an unreal ambience or describe a realistic landscape gripped by a surreal or unexplained event... Poetry: I must warn poets ready to submit beforehand, however, that I have forsworn a promise to favor poetry of a sinister bent. Phantom Drift prefers poetry composed in the new fabulist tradition. As editor, I will welcome work readers might label new weird, slipstream, and/or fantastic. Poetry that demonstrates what Roger Caillois has referred to as “the impression of irreducible strangeness,” and that inspires what Franco-Bulgarian structuralist critic Tzevetan Todorov characterized as a “duration of uncertainty’’ between strange and marvelous explanations in the mind of the reader will be especially prized here. In part, Phantom Drift exists because its editors wish to found a journal devoted to work that shatters or valuably distorts reality, whether this means surrealism, magical realism, fantastique, or bizarrerie. We value writing whose imagination is unafraid to shift shape, writing that generates unique alternatives to and uncharted voyages away from conventional realism.

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2021 Writing Exercise Series #118: Beginning, Middle & End 11

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.

#118

Beginning, Middle & End 11

For today's writing exercise you will write a piece of poetry or prose which begins with one image, scenario, line of dialog or place, includes another thing or event somewhere beyond the first and before the last stanza/paragraph, and ends with another required 'thing'.

Begin With: Someone running a (red) traffic light.

Somewhere in the middle: A banana is eaten.

End With: A scarf blowing in the wind.

Extra Credit Requirements: Your title must be at least five words long, and you should include these five words: "Height", "Dubious", "Melodic", "Gullible" and "Dinosaur".

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If you'd like some background writing music try "Calm your stress" lofi playlist.

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2021 Writing Exercise Series #117: 'Wedding' Multi-Prompt 2

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.

#117
'Wedding' Multi-Prompt 2

For today's writing exercise you actually have 4 choices! In the spirit of a wedding needing "Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Something Blue." The first offered prompt is one from Notebooking Daily's past, the second is a brand new prompt for the day of one prompt theme or another, the third prompt is a 'borrowed' prompt from one of Sparked's 'Prompting Partners', and the fourth prompt is a wildcard riffing on the idea of 'Something Blue'. Take a look and dive in! First thought, best thought for these prompts.

Something Old: 2020 Writing Exercise Series #202: Erasing Roger Ebert 3 "The Goonies" (Published on Notebooking Daily on 7/21/2020, this prompt has 6 titles to choose from which were selected from the Ebert review, as well as presenting the review for the erasure exercise).

Something New: Three things (include these things in a piece): A Grapefruit, A White Oak Tree, and A Dam. 

Something Borrowed: Rattle Ekphrastic Challenge May 2017 (use the image "The Pink Bird Corridor” by Soren James).

Something Blue: Write a piece that includes someone diving into a pool with a blue painted (or lined) bottom, and a blue-colored popsicle, ice pop or other frozen dessert. 

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If you'd like some background music to write to, try this "Nintendo lofi Study Beats" Lofi HipHop Mix 

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2021 Writing Exercise Series #116: Dueling Six Word Shootout 12

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.

#116
Dueling Six Word Shootout 12

For today's writing exercise write a piece that includes one or both of the following sets of 6 words. Don't front-load them all into the beginning of your piece, save at least one or two for somewhere to 'aim' your piece. Remember sestinas have 6 different end-words, but don't let me tell you what to write. Just use all 6 (or twelve) words in a fashion that isn't throw-away. Don't put them in in a way that you'll definitely later edit them out because they don't add to the piece. Make them important. This might require a little brainstorming at first. Don't be afraid, you can do it!

Set 1: 

1) Coat 

2) Float

3) Denote 

4) Complied 

5) Slide 

6) Vote 

Set 2:

7) Plied 

8) Denied 

9) Jellied 

10) Quote

11) Tugboat

12) Collide

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Bonus Exercise: If that's not enough, also include the following three things: A Garbage Can, A Pianist and A Grocery Shopping List.

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If you'd like some background music to write to, try this "Endless Sunday" lofi playlist from our friends Chillhop Music.

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2021 Writing Exercise Series #115: Between a Fact and an Exact Place 9

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes. 

#115
Between a Fact and an Exact Place 9

For today's writing exercise you will write a piece of poetry or prose which contains the following place (either as the setting, referenced or some aspect of it described) and the following fact in some way (its discovery, used as a metaphor, witnessed etc).

Exact Place:  Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania (here is more info about the location)

Fact: The NASA missions Apollo 14 and 16 had gernades onboard for a seismic experiment on the moon.

As an additional assignment, should you choose to incorporate it, is as follows: Also include the words "Spate" "Stake" "Gaping "Rough" and "Supernova".

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If you'd like some background music to write to, try this Spring 2020 "Chillhop Essentials" from our lofi buddies at Chillhop Music.

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2021 Writing Exercise Series #114 Micro 101 Episode 09

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.

#114

Micro 101 Episode 09

For today's writing exercise you will write a few micro-poems or micro-fictions. These will be either poems under 20 lines or stories under 200 words.

For inspiration go read some micro or hint fiction in this Buzzfeed article, at Microfiction Monday, Alba, Molecule, 50 Word Stories and Nanoism. Or also this Barnstorm blog post "How Microfiction Could Transform Social Media".

Read the full prompt twice before you start writing, because you're looking to keep it minimal, so have ideas. If your first draft is longer don't fret. Hone it down. And the piece will be what it is. I've started out with a goal of 100 words but hit on something and had to cull the end result from 1350 to 1200 for a contest because I loved the result. So each story will be its own beast, but we're ideally aiming for 20 lines or 100-200 words with these.

Micro Exercise 1: Origami. Tell the story of a relationship while describing how to fold a simple piece of origami from this list. Don't give every step, but at least 4 steps to provide your piece structure.
Micro Exercise 2: Thunder Storm. Write a short piece which is set during a thunderstorm in which the narrator thinks about things which seemed like they would be worse than they turned out ("it wasn't so bad after all"). Bonus points if the piece is for a metaphor for a relationship.
Micro Exercise 3: A Struck Car. Write a micro in which the narrator hits a parked car doing minor (ish) damage with no one seeing, and they contemplate their next move (and make it perhaps). 
Micro Exercise 4: Password Protected. Write a micro in which you must 'enter' a password before speaking with any friends (surreal/slipstream), and use this 'protection' as a metaphor.
Micro Exercise 5: The Jam Session 1. Write a piece in which a family (or at least 2 family members) makes and jars fruit preserves, while they have a conversation that talks around what they really want to be talking about (avoiding talking about a divorce or drug issue or suicide or being single etc).

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If you'd like some background music to write to, try this "Into the Past" futuristic lofi mix.

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2021 Writing Exercise Series #113: How to... 7

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.

#113

How to... 7

For today's prompt we are focusing on imperative directional pieces. What does that mean? A "How to"! You don't have to title your piece "How to ..." (though you certainly can if you'd like to), you could write a prose piece that merely includes someone giving another directions or you could make it a step by step process like a recipe, however you want to interpret the prompt, the process that is the 'how to' should merely be described at some length during your piece, in some fashion. 

For a couple examples of "How to" pieces. "How to Get There" by Philip Levine, "How to tie a knot" by James Kimbrell, the villanelle "The Grammar Lesson" by Steve Kowit, Mónica de la Torre's wonderful "How to Look at Mexican Highways". and the awesome short story "How to Write a True War Story" by Tim O'Brien.

How to: Effectively 'Fake It'.

Extra Credit Requirements: Your piece must include at least two exclamation points and the words "Waffle" "Toothpaste" and "Lily".

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If you'd like some background music try this "Most comfortable at home" lofi mix.

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2021 Writing Exercise Series #112: Erasing Roger Ebert 27 "Splash"

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.

#112
Erasing Roger Ebert 27 "Splash"

For today's exercise we have split paths for fiction and poetry, though I highly recommend that even fiction writers try the poetry exercise, because erasures can be a blast!

Poetry: For poetry do an erasure or black-out poem from the following:  Roger Ebert's review of the 1984 film "Splash" (one and a half stars).

Roger Ebert has been the archetypal film critic for decades, and he's written thousands of reviews. Because of their nature, almost their own bit of ekphrastic art, this series of erasures will be lots of fun!

An Erasure/Blackout is really simple: you take the given text and remove many words to make it your own new piece. One way to go about the erasure that I like to do is to copy the text and paste it twice into your document before you start erasing or blacking out (in MS Word set the text background color to black), that way if you get further into the erasure and decide you want a somewhat different tone or direction, it's easy to go to the unaltered version and make the erasure/black-out piece smoother. Another tip is to look for recurring words, in this example 'bingo' occurs multiple times and could be a good touchstone for your piece.

Fiction or (poetry): If you insist on fiction (or just feel like writing a "Title Mania" piece), write a piece with one of these  titles taken from this section:

1. Fruit and Vegetable
2. Metamorphose 
3. Shell and All
4. Touchingly Naive
5. The Mermaid's Lover
6. A Standard Young Male Lead
7. A Meaningless and Boring Subplot

Erasure Selection:

Roger Ebert's review of "Splash"

There is a funny movie lurking at the edges of SPLASH, and sometimes it even sneaks on screen and makes us smile. It's too bad the relentlessly conventional minds that made this movie couldn't have made the leap from sitcom to comedy. They must have thought they had such a great idea (Manhattan bachelor falls in love with mermaid) that they couldn't fail. But great ideas are a dime a dozen. SPLASH tells the story of a young man who is twice saved from drowning by a beautiful young mermaid. She falls in love with him and follows him to Manhattan, where he is a fruit and vegetable wholesaler. He falls in love with her. She can, it appears, metamorphose from a mermaid into a human; she has a tail when she's wet, but it turns into legs when she's dry. There are a lot of jokes about her total ignorance about all the ways of civilization. She walks naked onto Ellis Island, for example, and eats lobsters -- shell and all.

All right. Now that's the situation. But the situation isn't going to be enough. We need some characters here. The mermaid is just fine. As played by the lovely Daryl Hannah, she is young and healthy and touchingly naive. But what about the guy who falls in love with her? It's here that the movie makes its catastrophic casting mistake. You see, they figured they have a comedy as long as the girl has a tail, and a romance whenever she has legs. So they gave her a romantic leading man when they should have given her a lonely guy who could swim. The leading man is Tom Hanks. He is conventionally handsome and passably appealing, and he would do in a secondary role. He'd be great, for example, as the straight-arrow brother. Instead, they make him the mermaid's lover, and they cast John Candy as the brother.

You remember Candy from SCTV. He is the large, shambling, Charles Laughton-type who has such a natural charisma that he's funny just standing there. They should have made Candy the lover, and Hanks the brother. Then we'd be on the side of this big lunk who suddenly has a mermaid drop into his life and has to explain her to his creepy, swinging-singles brother. Plus, there's the sweet touch that this transcendently sexy mermaid has fallen for the tubby loser with the heart of lust, and not for his slick brother. See what I mean? Instead, they go the other way. John Candy is not used much in the movie, Tom Hanks comes across as a standard young male lead, and they have to concoct a meaningless and boring subplot in order to make the movie long enough. Don't they know in Hollywood that once all the geniuses think they've finished with the screenplay, you just gotta rotate everything 180 degrees and you got a movie?

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If you'd like some background music, try this "Guitar Vibes" lofi playlist.

 

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Hump Day Submission Carousel 13

#13: 4/21/21

It's Wednesday, so you know what that means! HUMP DAY SUBMISSIONS! Because it's easy to fall off the submission train during the week I'm presenting you with 3 cool and very different small journals currently open for submissions to save you research time! Pick one of the three journals presented and read some of the pieces in your genre. If you're not digging them, check the next journal. Don't agonize over it, if you're not enjoying the writing or you don't feel your writing would fit in there move along to the next journal. If none of them seem to fit... maybe next week? 

Journal 1: Redivider. Redivider is the grad-student-run literary print and online journal from Emerson University in Boston (also home of Emerson Review and Ploughshares). As always read their newest issue. Click here for their submission guidelines. They read no fee submissions via Submittable. Here is their editor's interview with Duotrope.

For Poetry: "Submit what you’re worried to send elsewhere. We want poems with teeth..." For Fiction: "We seek fiction submissions up to 8,000 words that are at once engaging, idiosyncratic, and humane. While our stories can range from the comically absurd to the understated and contemplative, we especially have a fondness for sharply drawn characters, alien but fully realized settings, and concentrated efforts to transgress the trappings of what has come to be known as “literary fiction.” Ultimately, we’re looking for stories that remind us exactly why we got wrapped up in literature in the first place."

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2021 Writing Exercise Series #110 Left to Anaphora—Repetition Files 4

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.

#110

Left to Anaphora—Repetition Files 4

For today's writing exercise you will write a piece of poetry or prose which focuses on repetition. In this instance we will work with anaphora. It's a handy little bit of poetic craft that goes a little something like this:

the repetition of a word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines to create a sonic effect.

Take a moment and read the above-linked Poetry Foundation article, even if you know the term. For even more fun check out this longer article called Adventures in Anaphora.

Your mission is to use the following phrase to begin at least 4 sentences.

The word or phrase we'll use for our exercise today is:

"Left to..." 

There are a number of ways you could approach this bit of anaphora—is the running meaning working, retreating from something, advancing on something, is it giving the finer points of running track as opposed to just 'running'? Whatever you do, just be sure that the repeated phrase earns its worth in your piece, and it should in some way build upon what came before it. The repetition should be necessary and not merely redundant.

Bonus Exercise: Include these five words into your piece "Slit" "Coiled" "Ghost" "Waft" and "Glove".

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If you'd like some background music to write to, try this "Warm afternoon" lofi mix.. 

 

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2021 Writing Exercise Series #109: Dueling Six Word Shootout 11

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.

#109
Dueling Six Word Shootout 11

For today's writing exercise write a piece that includes one or both of the following sets of 6 words. Don't front-load them all into the beginning of your piece, save at least one or two for somewhere to 'aim' your piece. Remember sestinas have 6 different end-words, but don't let me tell you what to write. Just use all 6 (or twelve) words in a fashion that isn't throw-away. Don't put them in in a way that you'll definitely later edit them out because they don't add to the piece. Make them important. This might require a little brainstorming at first. Don't be afraid, you can do it!

Set 1: 

1) Portal 

2) Garnet

3) Chortled 

4) Venom 

5) Bellow 

6) Vertical

Set 2:

7) Dormant 

8) Flailed 

9) Elemental 

10) Odd

11) Errant

12) Upwards

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Bonus Exercise: If that's not enough, also include the following three things: The Pacific Ocean, A Lawyer and Smoke.

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If you'd like some background music to write to, try this "Chill with me" lofi mix.

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2021 Writing Exercise Series #108: Ekphrastic Fantastic 10

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.

#108

Ekphrastic Fantastic 10

For today, we're pairing images for you to respond to. The two images will be contrasting and it will be up to you how they can interact, how your writing can make the two pieces of art meet. Or, just pick one of the images and run with it if you'd rather. I'm not here to tell you exactly what to do, just to help you get the ball rolling. But if it was me, I would look for commonalities or how one image could be an imagination or memory or media within the other image, or if they exist in the same 'world', how you can get from one point in space and time to the other. But you do you boo-boo.

Image 1: This photo by Redditor GuniMiko of their grandfather enjoying a strawberry.

Image 2:  This watercolor titled "Naduvattam village" by Redditor Ryasartss.

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How do these two images play off of each other in your mind? Are you going from one to the other or do they intermingle in your piece? Is the watercolor a memory the man is experiencing? Is that where the eating is happening? Are they completely unrelated? You decide. Don't overthink it, take a couple minutes perhaps, but dive in and make this happen!

You got this!

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If you'd like background writing music, this combo really made me think of an old favorite, Joe Hisaishi's "Hatsukoi" or First Love.

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2021 Writing Exercise Series #107: Sentence Calisthenics 5

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 35 minutes.

#107
Sentence Calisthenics 5

For today's writing exercise complete the following steps for a specific period of time, using the timer on your phone or computer and setting it for 5 minutes for each 'set'. The point here is to produce at very least 6 sentences in each set, but you're looking for both quality and quantity. Don't write a bunch of sentences with the same construction or that are boring—it's better if you have no idea how in the heck you might use the sentence. Something funky, interesting.  Normal, well-phrased sentences are of course good to have in the mix too, but include some quirky ones in each set.

At the end of every set mark your favorite 1-2 sentences.

In order to complete the large number of sentences demanded of this exercise it is imperative that you write fast. Don't stop to think too much at all until you've reached the final exercise. The process of this quick production is to thrust past second guesses or other stumbling blocks that sometimes impede your writing. You're aiming to write 30 individual, unlinked sentences in 25 minutes so you have ten minutes to organize and write that actual piece using the 'round up' prompt. This means you're going to be writing more than a sentence a minute. You can't do that if you're dawdling or trying to figure out the 'perfect' phrasing. The first couple times writing to these sprint-style prompts you may barely squeak the lines out in time, but as you get more used to it you'll get more both in quantity and in quality of your sentences. 

Save all of your sentences to a "Sentence Calisthenics" document, if you participate for awhile we'll have some bonus exercises that will refer back to these sentences, because sometimes you can't see the gold hiding in plain sight when you've just written something. Having fresh eyes might result in a quick, awesome piece. So, save those sentences!

WRITE FAST, DON'T OVERTHINK

Getting into the mindset: Before you start your timer, take a moment and breathe and think about keeping cool during a very hot day (and also during hot nights). Think about the feeling of a hot night, trying to sleep when sweating/covered in sweat or however else you experience a hot night or day. Think both humid and dry heat. Keep thinking of these things in the back of your mind as you're writing and in between sets. By no means should all of your sentences revolve around these things, we just want your mind centered with a few anchors in place before we charge into our piece, DON'T LET THIS DISTRACT YOU FROM YOUR SENTENCES. When you feel set, read the set instructions, appropriate Wordbank, and start that timer. 

When the timer goes off move on to the next set regardless of if you met the 6 sentence goal, you wrote only 3, or 12—when the timer rings, move along and if you don't hit 6 for one set, do your dangedest to knock out 6 in the next set even if some of them are short or silly or straightforward or even a fragment.

Set 1: Using the first word bank write six (6) or more sentences which include one of the words and some sort of water (rain, river, drinking fountain etc). 

Wordbank 1:

• Cult
• Prodding
• Stilted
• Somersault
• Nodding

Set 2: Now write six (6) or more sentences which use two words from that first bank. At least two (2) of the sentences must be fewer than six words. 

Remember to mark 1-2 favorites for each set.

Wordbank 2:

• Flawed
• Wadding
• Cotton
• Jaw
• Mauled

Set 3: In preparation of the next six (6) or more sentences you should first pick two words Wordbank 1 and type/write them out. Each of your sentences for this 5 minutes must include one of those two pre-selected words and one of the words from Wordbank 2.

Set 4: Now take a minute to look through this list of 'powerful verbs' and write down at least 5-8 of them. Write at least six (6) sentences which include two words from Wordbank 2 and one (or two) of those verbs. 

You're marking 1-2 favorites, right? Keep doing it.

Wordbank 3:

• Bald
• Bowels
• Wanton
• Hauled
• Enthralled

Set 5: Take just 3 minutes now to write as many sentences that use at least two of the words from Wordbank 3 as you can.

Set 6: Now write six (6) sentences that include one word from each of the three wordbanks.

The Prompting Round-up

Step 1) Gather up all of your marked favorite lines and pick from those favorites at least three sentences to build your piece around. 

Step 2) Now that you know the core of your piece, go back up to the un-favorite lines and pick three additional sentences that you must use (even if you 'spruce' them up by tightening or quirking up the language). 

Step 3) Now you have 6 sentences that are unconnected. You have a large chunk of a jigsaw puzzle but you've lost all the rest of the pieces. So it's time to make those pieces yourself. Make sure your piece has a 'point' or some sort of larger meaning above just the literal narrative/descriptions. Make an observation for better or worse, large, small or teensy tiny even. But, something new, and unique to your brain.

COMPLETE-A-PIECE 

If your piece hasn't jumped right out at you, use this 'formula' today using those six sentences. 

Step 1) First, throw out three of those six sentences that you don't care for as much. Look back at your original full list of sentences and see if any stick out. Sometimes in the rush of things you actually choke out something inadvertently kinda brilliant/interesting. That's the point of rush-rush-rushing. Pushing your brain. Ideally you'll have 4 sentences before you move onto step 2, so if none of those other sentences stick out (tweaks are acceptable of course), grab back one of the sentences you threw out at the beginning of this step, you want at least 3..

Step 2) Now write a piece which is broken roughly into 1/3s with the first 1/3 including one of your sentences and an instance where someone is struggling to swim, be sure to use lots of concrete details, and don't describe things with the first way that comes to mind—"Tell it slant". 

Step 3) The second 1/3 should include 1-2 of your sentences and speak about the person/animal that is struggling to swim, but when they were young (or, younger), and when they learned something (it can be swimming, but I'd go with something unrelated and figure out how that can come back to the swimming so that the piece has nice 'moves'. 

Step 4) Before moving onto the last section of the piece take a quick look back at your starred list of sentences and see if there's any that would fit in your piece. You want to use this as a little scaffolding for the final chunk, but if you don't find one or two that fit that is fine too. 

Step 5) The third 1/3 should include your remaining sentences and return to your swimming person/animal either once they've recovered/finished swimming or farther in the future when the near-drowning (or, 'incident' if it wasn't that close/scary) is being recalled by another person. Is that portrayal charitable, comic? You decide. Be sure that you keep in mind the 'lesson' that they'd learned and how that can inform their humility (or lack of) when in the face of someone else telling their story. 

And that's it. You have your piece. This will definitely take longer than ten minutes but may just be worth it.

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Want some unobtrusive background writing music? Try "Wave", the 1967 album from Brazilian Antônio Carlos Jobim, the 'father of Bossa Nova'.

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2021 Writing Exercise Series #106: Between a Fact and an Exact Place 8

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes. 

#106
Between a Fact and an Exact Place 8

For today's writing exercise you will write a piece of poetry or prose which contains the following place (either as the setting, referenced or some aspect of it described) and the following fact in some way (its discovery, used as a metaphor, witnessed, worked into the narrative/dialog etc).

Exact Place:  Cape Horn, Chile (here is more info about the location)

Fact: Ferdinand Magellan was killed by a poisons arrow in the Philippines while circumnavigating the globe.

As an additional assignment, should you choose to incorporate it, is as follows: Also include the words "Trust" "Forage" "Bees" "Slaked" and "Salted".

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If you'd like some background music to write to, try this "Summer Feelings" lofi playlist from our old lofi buddy Dreamy.

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2021 Writing Exercise Series #105: How to... 6

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.

#105

How to... 6

For today's prompt we are focusing on imperative directional pieces. What does that mean? A "How to"! You don't have to title your piece "How to ..." (though you certainly can if you'd like to), you could write a prose piece that merely includes someone giving another directions or you could make it a step by step process like a recipe, however you want to interpret the prompt, the process that is the 'how to' should merely be described at some length during your piece, in some fashion. 

For a couple examples of "How to" pieces. "How to Get There" by Philip Levine, "How to tie a knot" by James Kimbrell, the villanelle "The Grammar Lesson" by Steve Kowit, Mónica de la Torre's wonderful "How to Look at Mexican Highways". and the awesome short story "How to Write a True War Story" by Tim O'Brien.

How to: Properly Burn Christmas Cookies.

Extra Credit Requirements: Your piece must include a Christmas carol's name (or a snippet of the lyrics) and a famous Christmas movie/tv special and/or one of its character's by name (Scrooge, It's a Wonderful Life, John McClane in Die Hard).

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If you'd like some background music try this "Try for a better future" lofi mix.

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Hump Day Submission Carousel 12

#12: 4/14/21

It's Wednesday, so you know what that means! HUMP DAY SUBMISSIONS! Because it's easy to fall off the submission train during the week I'm presenting you with 3 cool and very different small journals currently open for submissions to save you research time! Pick one of the three journals presented and read some of the pieces in your genre. If you're not digging them, check the next journal. Don't agonize over it, if you're not enjoying the writing or you don't feel your writing would fit in there move along to the next journal. If none of them seem to fit... maybe next week? 

Journal 1: El Portal. El Portal is the student-run literary journal from Eastern New Mexico University. As always read their newest issue. Or, they also have a recent long prose Web Feature "Boundary Bound" to check out. Click here for their submission guidelines. They read no fee submissions via email. Here is their editor's interview with Duotrope.

"Our mission is in our name: El Portal is the door. We open our doors to poetry and fiction, photography and art, non-fiction and flash works as we strive to share works that transgress boundaries, straddle borders, and most importantly, move us."

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2021 Writing Exercise Series #104: Title Mania "Fringe" 11

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.

#104

Title Mania "Fringe" 11

For today's writing exercise you will write a piece of poetry or prose that utilizes one of the following titles, and if you want extra 'bonus points' also include the three items from below the title list. There is absolutely nothing that these potential titles have in common, I swear.

Titles:

1. Standing on the Fringes
2. Fringed
3. The Fringes of the Suburbs
4. Fringe, Tassel, Sequins
5. The Red Dress with Fringe
6. Fringe Groups, Splinted Cells and Guerilla Accoutrements

Bonus Exercise: Three Things

(Your piece must also include the following three 'things', if you choose this option)

1. A Disco Ball
2.  Burping
3. Sugar Cane

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If you'd like some background music try this "Inspiring" lofi mix.

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2021 Writing Exercise Series #103 Micro 101 Episode 08

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.

#103

Micro 101 Episode 08

For today's writing exercise you will write a few micro-poems or micro-fictions. These will be either poems under 20 lines or stories under 200 words.

For inspiration go read some micro or hint fiction in this Buzzfeed article, at Microfiction Monday, Alba, Molecule, 50 Word Stories and Nanoism. Or also this Barnstorm blog post "How Microfiction Could Transform Social Media".

Read the full prompt twice before you start writing, because you're looking to keep it minimal, so have ideas. If your first draft is longer don't fret. Hone it down. And the piece will be what it is. I've started out with a goal of 100 words but hit on something and had to cull the end result from 1350 to 1200 for a contest because I loved the result. So each story will be its own beast, but we're ideally aiming for 20 lines or 100-200 words with these.

Micro Exercise 1: Sinking Boat. Tell the story of a boat sinking in three parts. First write a section where the leak/hole is discovered or when there is the accident that causes the boat's sinking. The second section should be what lead up to going out on the boat in the first place (immediately prior or the initial planning, or both—up to you). The final section should be a metaphor for something that is inevitable (for instance, a melting ice cube on a summer day), with at most one mention of the sinking's aftermath leading into the metaphor.
Micro Exercise 2: Green (lightning). Make a list of at least ten items which are a green color. Write a micro piece which uses at least seven of the items you listed, but does not (at least not conspicuously) draw the reader's attention to the items all being green. That's not to say they can't be described, not at all, but it can't say "and another blue thing is..." if that makes sense. Include lightning striking something.
Micro Exercise 3: Green Painting. Write a micro which uses at least three of the items not used in Micro #2, as well as someone painting a fence or wall as a punishment. While they're painting they think of three things they had gotten away with without being caught/punished, and ends with an escalating list of things which others get away with of greater and greater magnitude.
Micro Exercise 4: The Random Raft. Pick two interesting words from this Random Word Generator. One of those should be in your first sentence and one should be in your last sentence. The narrative of this piece should involve either a raft or a paper boat.
Micro Exercise 5: The Family Recipe. Write a piece in which a sibling or cousin goes missing for a short period of time, but long enough that the narrator is out putting up 'missing' signs when the missing person returns/is returned (or if you want to get darker, that's up to you).

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If you'd like some background music to write to, try this "Memories rush back" lofi mix.

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2021 Writing Exercise Series #102: Inspired By 8... "Ladders"

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.

#102

Inspired By 8... "Ladders"

For today's writing exercise you will first read a short piece of writing, and then respond using one of the following prompts. 

Today's inspiring piece of writing is the powerful poem "Ladders" by the poet Richard Garcia. This poem was published in a 2019 issue Poetry Magazine.

Seriously. Go read it. It's short. I'll wait.

I mean it, jumping right to the prompts will be borderline pointless as they won't have context. It's a 2 minute read, you got this.

This is great little prose poem that (I believe) is playing on the 'border wall' issue that came up in the news in the past couple years. The poem is subtle and doesn't go on diatribes or get doggerel. This poem could be just about overcoming adversity, or some other metaphor. Okay, now that you've ACTUALLY READ the poem, let's write something.

1. Object: Write a piece in which a ladder (or ladders) is vital to the piece.

2. Titles: Write a piece using one of the following titles selected from the piece:

1) They Invented Walls 2) To Climb a Wall 3) To Climb Down 4) One Side of the Wall 5) Stored in an Enormous Warehouse 6) To Destroy 

3. Form: Poetry—Write a prose poem which 'riffs' on an object as this does (or Lydia Davis does in her wonderful piece "A Mown Lawn"). Fiction—write a flash or micro prose piece .

4. Wordbank: A cross between a cento and an erasure, you can think of this as being like magnetic poetry on a refrigerator. Copy the text from the poem and paste it into a word document. Create a new piece using only words from that 'bank', when you use a word, highlight it in the bank and either 'strikethrough' or add a black background so you don't use a word twice. You'll likely have some words left over but that's ok. It's rare that you'll be able to use all of the words in a new order without some superflousness or awkward phrasing.

5. Beginning Middle & End: Using the same 'things' from the piece's beginning/middle/end. For today begin your piece with a Ladder, in the middle there must be the appearance of A Warehouse, and in the end we must get An Elevator. However you get from one to the other, make it your own.

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If you'd like some unobtrusive background music try the lofi mix "Space Walks".

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