Write Anyway

There are a lot of reasons people go to war.

Greed.

Disagreement.

Religion.

War is part of our past and our present for various reasons. Today I want you to write about to separate groups of people. Have them encounter each other.

What reasons to they have for going to war? Is war declared right away or does conflict after conflict escalate into something huge?

This week’s theme is war. I don’t have anything to say about the war in Iraq (at least here) and all of that. War is a common element in a lot of books - especially wars of good against evil. That’s why I picked it for this week’s theme.

To go along with the theme, I picked “War. What is it Good For” for this week’s musical Monday.

I went through some of the videos, and this time you are getting the Xena edition of War because it’s one of the few videos without graphic content and/or some kind of war message.

Enjoy!

Sorry about the technical difficulties everyone. It seems to be all fixed up now.

Happy Friday!

Don’t you just love Fridays? They’re a bit different for me since I started working at home, but I like them nonetheless.

I’m going to try a little something different for today’s prompt.

Writers are good writers if they can engage all the senses. Thus, writers should learn to pay attention to the world with all their senses and been inspired that way.

These are a few pictures I like especially because of the colors. The challenge for you is to write about one or more of the pictures. Whatever they inspire you to write about.

Have fun!

This week’s Thursday Thirteen is a big pleasure because I love both colors and nature - especially colors that occur in nature!

Thirteen Colors from Nature I Love

1. Rose red
2. Clear skies blue
3. Sand tan/khaki
4. Sunset purple
5. Sunset red
6. Sunset orange
7. Amethyst purple
8. Corn on the cob yellow
9. Pumpkin Orange
10. Lightening strike white
11. Pine needle green
12. Honey gold
13. Jade Green

I’ve mentioned this before, but I love word banks. This week is especially fun (or challenging depending on how you like to write) because the theme lets you write about whatever you want as long as you incorporate color.

Here are your words:

red
orange
yellow
sight
breathtaking
purple
soft
warm
smile
green

I’m not going to give you the prompt of describing color to a blind person because I want you to write with these prompts, not sit around wondering how to write with the prompts. Taking the time to write some notes or free write a bit is a good thing for your writing, but I don’t want you to get stuck.

Our world is filled with familiar colors. The sky is blue. Grass is green (generally). The moon is white (generally).

I want you to create a world where all the colors we count on in everyday life aren’t what they once were. The sky is no longer blue, rain clouds are no longer grey, and the ocean is no longer blue-green. Talk about the colors of your new world and how they all work together.

Remember: Things don’t have to be solid colors either. Don’t just think of opposites, think of a brand new creation all your own.

Welcome to a new week! Mondays can be good or bad, depending on how you look at them, but I’m enjoying this Monday for a number of reasons. One of those reasons is this week’s theme.

Color! Or colour.

The world is full of vibrant colors, from the blues of the sky to the greens of nature. If I name off a color, there will be a number of things you can name off because our world is full of color.

In thinking of possible themes for this week, I remembered back to my solo acting competitions back in high school. In my freshman (ninth) year, I watched a girl my age perform a monologue. It centered around a blind girl thinking about what life would be like if she could see color. The performance was amazing.

Thus we have the theme this week. Plus, as you know, it’s musical Monday. Here is a most appropriate song Colors of the Wind from Pocahontas. I hope it inspires you in your writing.

I’ve mentioned before how much I believe music can inspire you when writing. That’s why I’m telling you about this contest. It’s a bit short notice, but there isn’t a lot you have to do to enter, so it’s all good.

Prince took the controversial decision to give his new album ‘Planet Earth’ away with a Sunday newspaper in the UK. I of course picked up a copy, and I have it here waiting for one of readers to win.

Whether you live in the UK and missed out on the Mail On Sunday, or found it sold out, or whether you are from a country where the album isn’t available for another week, here is your chance to get your hands on the album before most of the rest of the world.

All you need to do to enter is the following:-

Brit Music Scene is a very new blog, and I’ll admit it, I need some publicity to up the readership and help my mission to become the first place people look at for news and reviews about the British music scene. To that end I want people to link to me, and send new readers my way.

So, from today until next Sunday at midnight, I want you to link either to http://britmusicscene.com or any specific post on Brit Music Scene on your own blog or website. In a post, on your sidebar, in a blogroll, all are acceptable. Once you’ve done this, comment on this post directing me to the place where you have linked Brit Music Scene, and that counts as your entry.

There is no limit on entries, so if you have 10 blogs, link me in them all and leave a comment for each and that’s 10 times your name will go in the hat. Forum links, and signatures however do not count!

Next Sunday at Midnight I will pick an entry at random and the winner will then receive the new Prince album ‘Planet Earth’. Make sure to leave a valid email address when you comment so I can contact you should you win, to obtain your postal address for dispatch. The winner will have the CD posted to them on Monday 23rd July.

Good luck!

Easy. Just go to Brit Music Scene and let him know you’ve linked him!

Free writing can be very, excuse the pun, freeing. Sometimes it’s not that I need a prompt, it’s that I just can’t seem to get started. That’s when free writing comes in.

You know what this week’s theme is, but that’s only a guideline today in case you need a prompt. If you have something else to free write about, go for it!

And, just to show I take my own advice and don’t just post up random things, I’m going to be doing five minutes of free writing in this post. I hope you enjoy.

Finding Love

I could hardly call it love at first sight, no matter how much I would have liked to. However, I can call it love at first instant message if I’m feeling particularly romantic.

I still remember the night I met my now husband. We were introduced online via a common friend. I was in a bad way, and he talked to me gently, with caring and concern. He immediately grabbed my attention, for reasons I couldn’t quite figure out then. He calmed me down in a way no one ever had before and I sat at my computer blushing and smiling as we talked.

What was five minutes turned into five hours…six…more… I stayed up all through the night until dawn because I didn’t want to stop talking to him. It didn’t occur to me that I could go to sleep and we could talk the next day. We talked about science and theory, we talked about friends, and we flirted like there was no tomorrow. As far as I was concerned, tomorrow didn’t exist. Only those moments while we talked and flirted like young lovers who had known each other lifetimes and not just hours.

Eventually we both had to go to sleep and did so reluctantly, but we were back online and talking to each other as soon as we could…

And five minutes are up. I hope you enjoyed, and happy Friday!

Let’s keep with the theme of the week, shall we?

I love Thursday Thirteen (you can find the link below), so I thought I’d start doing it on this site. This week, I’m listing thirteen new beginnings I’ve had throughout my life (in no particular order).

1. Going to college.
2. Going away to college.
3. Getting my first non-family job.
4. My first paid publication.
5. Getting my first writing job.
6. Leaving home permanently.
7. Getting on a plane for the first time.
8. Flying to live in Australia.
9. Starting on this site.
10. Volunteering at my husband’s work for the first time.
11. Starting a diet.
12. Starting my next novel.
13. Getting married.

Can you list thirteen new beginnings in your life?

On Fiction Scribe, I like to have Wordplay Wednesdays. Going along with that theme, I’d like to introduce you to the Random Word Bank post this week.

I believe different people work better with different prompts. That’s why I put up music, traditional prompts, word banks, as well as other things. Word banks are one of my favorites because they were the reason I wrote every day in elementary school. It was a bit different from this, but basically the same idea.

Try to fit all of these words in a paragraph, short story, or more with the theme of “new beginning”.

white
certainty (any form - certain, certainly…)
tennis shoes
notebook
dust
letter
map
red pen
hat
pillow

People have many new beginnings in life - from weddings, babies, and graduations to diets, big decisions, and moving house. Life is often about new beginnings, whether willing or unwilling.

My life has been full of new beginnings in the past years. I went to university, lived away from home, moved to Australia, got married…

Write a new beginning you have experienced or would like to experience. How did you feel about it or how do you think you would feel about it? Who did/would it involve? What were/would be the consequences?

I know I did music last Friday, but I was definitely having one of ‘those’ days, and frankly, I love music. I find it very inspirational and useful for when I need to get into a certain mood for my writing.

This week’s theme is “New Beginnings” which is only appropriate, don’t you think?

I’m planning on playing a new video every Monday to fit that week’s theme. This video is of the movie Anastasia and playing the song “At the Beginning” with Donna Lewis.

I don’t know about you, but I prefer starting things on Mondays rather than any other days. That doesn’t mean, however, I want to slack off. Even if it is Friday.

So today, I’m going to put up one of my favorite Queen songs to help you relax, start your weekend, and hopefully start your writing with.

Enjoy the song, and I’ll be back Monday to hit things hard and get this show going!