Write Anyway

Hi all! I find it funny how the theme this week is rain and it’s raining today. Perhaps I’m too easily amused?

I’ve decided to try something different for Thursday Thirteen here once again in an effort to provide a good arrangement of prompts for you. Today I’m going to list thirteen rain-related prompts in the form of beginning sentences or scenes.

Enjoy!

1. A child dancing in the rain.
2. Experience rain as a blind person.
3. A kiss in the rain.
4. Running in the rain from something scary.
5. Curled up inside with a blanket and a good book while it rains outside.
6. Rain, rain, rain…and more rain. It just keeps raining.
7. Rain after a drought.
8. The power goes out when it’s raining.
9. It’s raining hard and the river is rising…
10. Playing on, despite the rain.
11. Experience rain as a deaf person.
12. Rain after a long, hot, dirty, sweaty day.
13. Driving in the rain with no destination.

Check out my other Thursday Thirteens on The Book Stacks and Fiction Scribe

Happy Wednesday all! Just think, you’re almost half way (or already half way, depending on when you read this) through the traditional work week.
The weekend is coming!

I have decided that from now on, all random word banks will be mega word banks. It gives you more choices for what to write and more than one prompt for the day if you have some more time.

Remember, with all the words, you can use any form, any tense of the word. Eg. Laugh can be laugh, laughter, laughs, laughed.

For the first word bank, I don’t want you to write a short story or anything actually. What I want you to do is word association. For every word there, I want you to write the word and then write the first word that comes to your mind after.

For the second word bank, I do want you to write a short story (or something longer if you like) that incorporates this week’s theme: rain. This round goes as usual; just include all of the words in the bank.

For the third word bank, it is something different yet again. I would like you to try your hand at writing a poem incorporating the words provided. I don’t ask you to write poetry very often, so it should be something new and fun for you.

Enjoy! (more…)

Rain, rain, go away.
Come again another day.
Little Lottie wants to play.

Did you sing that as a child as you stared out the window? Stuck inside as a child because it was raining outside.

Or perhaps you would recognize this:

Another day has almost come and gone
Can’t imagine what else could wrong
Sometimes I’d like to hide away somewhere and lock the door
A single battle lost but not the war (‘cause)

Tomorrow’s another day
And I’m thirsty anyway
So bring on the rain

That’s from the song Bring on the Rain by Jo Dee Messina.

So what does rain mean to you? Does it bring feelings of misery or do you feel restored and renewed by it? Are you someone who likes to go out and play in the rain or would you rather remain curled up inside where it’s warm, reading a book while the storms rage outside?

Today I would like you to take some time to think about all the memories you have that are associated with rain. After you have a few in mind, either pick one memory and focus on it for your writing or combine all the memories and create a fictional scene.

Try to focus on your senses. Did your pajamas feel extra warm in comfortable when you heard the thunder rumble outside? Or were you outside, smelling the ‘wet’ scent on everything while feeling the rain run down your face and shoulders?

Tap into all of those things and write a scene or short story.

Hello everyone, and a happy Musical Monday to you all.

This Monday has been a bit of an…interesting one for me so far. Let’s just say I wanted to make this week’s theme anger. However, I took a breath and realized that going off for an entire week over something I’ll get over in the next few hours is no way to go about things.

So for this week’s theme. I’m trying something simple that no one should have trouble writing about: rain.

Rain can mean a lot of different things for people. It can inspire a lot of different emotions and the symbolism can change for someone as their life changes.

This week we’re not going to focus so much on the act of weather itself but more on the symbolism and emotion it creates. You can (always) feel free to take the theme in a different direction than I do, but I’m more concerned with the physical than the emotional this week.

To start us all off, I have selected a few songs about rain that I hope will inspire you in your writing.

Enjoy! (more…)

I’m hosting part of a progressive dinner blog carnival on Fiction Scribe!

Have you ever been to a progressive dinner? You start out at one house or restaurant to have hors d’oeuvres and cocktails, then move on to a different one for appetizers, and continue moving from place to place all the way through dessert.

That’s the idea behind the new Progressive Dinner Blog Carnival…

Soup To Nuts is ONE BLOG CARNIVAL presented in five “courses”, each with a different host.

Entries are being accepted NOW.
Dinner will be served on Wednesday, January 30th.

{You can submit one post, per blog, on any subject - please do not use any post more than once}

You can participate in 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 courses

(more…)

Ah, another lovely Friday Feast. I’ve decided to put up the current ones when I’m around if they go up and put up old ones if I’m away. Either way, I hope you’ll join me in letting other readers get to know you.

On to the feast!

Appetizer - How many times per day do you usually laugh?

Two or three times. I usually get one or two chuckles from things I see/read during the day and spending time with my husband is always good for a laugh or more.

Soup - What do your sunglasses look like?

I don’t really have my own pair of sunglasses. I wear glasses and I’m near-sighted so going without my glasses in favour of sunglasses isn’t my first option. I’d really like to get transition glasses.

Salad - You win a free trip to anywhere on your continent, but you have to travel by train. Where do you go?

I would probably go to the opposite side of the continent – Perth.

Main Course - Name one thing you consider a great quality about living in your town/city.

Everything is within walking distance! The mall, the pub, oodles of food places, the library, the chemist, a lovely park, and even sex shops! All within walking distance.

The other things would definitely be the park. It’s beautiful and you feel completely ‘away’ from the city while still being in it.

Dessert - If the sky could be another color, what color do you think would look best?

Light purple. Hehe.

Brought to you by Friday’s Feast

Happy Thursday Thirteen!

I’ve decided to go back to asking questions instead of listing thirteen things that relate to me and this week’s theme.

I want to get your responses for a few questions I have. So feel free to answer any or all of the questions in the comments section or use your answers to these questions for your own Thursday Thirteen.

If you opt for the latter, please leave a link in the comments section letting me know you’ve done so.

1. When was the first time you said goodbye?
2. Who/what did you say goodbye to?
3. When was the first time you said goodbye that you had a choice in? (Moving out, college, etc.)
4. Who/what did you say goodbye to?
5. Was that goodbye hard, easy, or somewhere in the middle?
6. What was the hardest goodbye you have ever had to make?
7. Who/what did you say goodbye to?
8. Did you have to say goodbye, or did you have a choice?
9. What is the most recent goodbye you had to make?
10. What is a good thing about saying goodbye?
11. If you could make it so you never had to say goodbye again, would you?
12. If there was one goodbye you could take back, which would it be?
13. If there was one goodbye you wish you could avoid in the future, which would it be?

Check out my other Thursday Thirteens on The Book Stacks and Fiction Scribe

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

And yes, it is a happy Wednesday despite what can be a very depressing theme for the week. It’s a happy day for me, anyway, as I get to take a road trip with my husband across state today.

I have decided that from now on, all random word banks will be mega word banks. It gives you more choices for what to write and more than one prompt for the day if you have some more time.

Remember, with all the words, you can use any form, any tense of the word. Eg. Laugh can be laugh, laughter, laughs, laughed.

For the first word bank, I don’t want you to write a short story or anything actually. What I want you to do is word association. For every word there, I want you to write the word and then write the first word that comes to your mind after.

For the second word bank, I do want you to write a short story (or something longer if you like) that incorporates this week’s theme: goodbye. This round goes as usual; just include all of the words in the bank.

For the third word bank, it is something different yet again. I would like you to try your hand at writing a poem incorporating the words provided. I don’t think I have asked you to write poetry before, so it should be something new and fun for you.

Enjoy!

The word banks:

(more…)

Saying goodbye can be a choice or a necessity. A want or a need. Easy or hard.

More often than not, saying goodbye is hard, even if it’s a want rather than a need.

Many goodbyes happen as part of the natural cycle of life. You say goodbye for the first time when you go off to school. It’s a bit of a scary adventure, but it is only the beginning of a long journey.

You say goodbye if/when you go off to college/university. There is also the first apartment, the wedding… There are also the hard goodbyes that we had no choice but to say when the death of a loved one occurs.

And there is always the goodbye(s) you never got the chance to say…

Goodbyes are all around us and happen dozens of times through our lives.

Today I would like you to think of one of the times you have said goodbye. Try thinking about the hardest goodbye you have ever had to make. Think of how old you were, where you were, who you were with, and who/what you had to say goodbye to.

What made the goodbye hard to say/do? Why were you saying goodbye? Were you leaving physically? Emotionally? Was someone else leaving? Was saying goodbye your choice or something that was forced? Did you regret saying goodbye?

Tap into all the senses surrounding the event and recreate the scene in a way that someone else could read it and feel what you felt.

Hello everyone to another Musical Monday!

As per usual, when I have a fun and happy theme, I follow it with a slightly depressing theme or something that makes you a little…sigh-ish.

This week’s theme is ‘goodbye’. Saying goodbye, leaving, moving on…goodbye is almost always never an easy thing. It’s often filled with emotions and regrets. Saying goodbye is often a necessity, but not usually something we want to do.

So this week we explore those feelings, where they have taken us in the past, and where they will likely take us in the future.

Here are three songs that I think represent three of the feelings that can surround saying goodbye. I hope you enjoy and have a lovely Monday.

(more…)

I’m hosting part of a progressive dinner blog carnival on Fiction Scribe!

Have you ever been to a progressive dinner? You start out at one house or restaurant to have hors d’oeuvres and cocktails, then move on to a different one for appetizers, and continue moving from place to place all the way through dessert.

That’s the idea behind the new Progressive Dinner Blog Carnival…

Soup To Nuts is ONE BLOG CARNIVAL presented in five “courses”, each with a different host.

Entries are being accepted NOW.
Dinner will be served on Wednesday, January 30th.

{You can submit one post, per blog, on any subject - please do not use any post more than once}

You can participate in 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 courses

(more…)

Are you hungry?

Yes! It’s time once again for the Friday Feast here at Write Anyway. It’s another lovely summer Friday afternoon here in Australia. I hope you are finding this Friday to be a lovely one.

On to the feast! If you’re playing with me (from the very beginning), be sure to link to your answers in the comments section.

Appetizer - Name a board game you enjoy playing (Scrabble? Monopoly? Trivial Pursuit?) What’s fun about it? Do you change the rules or go by the book?

I love playing Scrabble and Clue. I love words and I love figuring things out. I pretty much always play by the book, but I do like having fun and making things up like dirty Scrabble and speed Scrabble.

Soup - How’s the weather been in your area lately? Hot and dry? Wet and muggy? Stormy? Beautiful?

Hot, hot, hot. We’re in the middle of summer here in Australia and Oz has been reminding us who is boss.

Salad - Do you consider yourself an emotional person? What types of emotions do you experience most often?

I’m very emotional. I used to lock up all my emotions and have been working on not denying emotions, so I’m very sensitive. Pretty much every emotion, good or bad, is exaggerate for me.

Main Course - List 3 songs you’ve been listening to recently. Are these songs from a different category of music than you usually choose, or are you devoted to a certain type of tunes?

1. Constant Craving – KD Lang
2. There’s No Place That Far – Sara Evans
3. I Wanna Grow Old With You – Westlife

I’m not devoted to any specific kind of music. I use music to get me into certain moods for writing, so I’ve learned to appreciate all kinds of music.

Dessert - What’s on your refrigerator door? Magnets? Your child’s drawings? Photos? Calendars?

Haha. There are a lot of magnets, a couple holding up petrol vouchers, and a little sign I made that has my goal weight written on it.

Brought to you by Friday’s Feast

Happy Thursday, everyone!

My husband and I had a wonderful time on his birthday and he loved his presents. I rather like having special things to celebrate on Wednesdays because it seems to make the rest of the week that much brighter.

Given this week’s theme of laughter, what better Thursday Thirteen list than thirteen funny things?

I hope you all enjoy at least a few of the things I find funny.

1. What Exactly Is Marriage?

“Marriage is when you get to keep your girl and don’t have to give her back to her parents” -Eric, six years old

“When somebody’s been dating for a while, the boy might propose to the girl. He says to her, ‘I’ll take you for a whole life, or at least until we have kids and get divorced, but you got to do one particular thing for me.’ Then she says yes, but she’s wondering what the thing is and whether it’s naughty or not. She can’t wait to find out.” -Anita, nine years old
2. Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils … - Louis Hector Berlioz
3. How Does a Person Decide Whom to marry?

“You flip a nickel, and heads means you stay with him and tails means you try the next one.” -Kelly, nine years old

“My mother says to look for a man who is kind….That’s what I’ll do….I’ll find somebody who’s kinda tall and handsome.” -Carolyn, eight years old
4. Friendship is like peeing on yourself: everyone can see it, but only you get the warm feeling that it brings.
5. Concerning the Proper Age to Get Married

“Once I’m done with kindergarten, I’m going to find me a wife” -Bert, five years old
6. It’s true that we don’t know what we’ve got until we lose it, but it’s also true that we don’t know what we’ve been missing until it arrives.
7. How Did Your Mom and Dad Meet?

“They were at a dance party at a friend’s house. Then they went for a drive, but their car broke down…It was a good thing, because it gave them a chance to find out about their values.” -Lottie, nine years old

“My father was doing some strange chores for my mother. They won’t tell me what kind.” -Jeremy, eight years old
8. Men are like parking spots, the good ones are taken and the free ones are handicapped.
9. What Do Most People Do on a Date?

“On the first date, they just tell each other lies, and that usually gets them interested enough to go for a second date.” -Martin, ten years old

“Many daters just eat pork chops and french fries and talk about love.” -Craig, nine years old
10. It takes 46 muscles to frown but only 4 to flip ‘em the bird.
11. When Is It Okay to Kiss Someone?

“You should never kiss a girl unless you have enough bucks to buy her a ring and her own VCR, ’cause she’ll want to have videos of the wedding.” -Allan, ten years old

“Never kiss in front of other people. It’s a big embarrassing thing if anybody sees you….If nobody sees you, I might be willing to try it with a handsome boy, but just for a few hours.” -Kally, nine years old
12. When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep — not screaming, like the passengers in his car.
13. The Great Debate: Is It Better to Be Single or Married?

“You should ask the people who read Cosmopolitan” -Kirsten, ten years old

“It’s better for girls to be single but not for boys. Boys need somebody to clean up after them” -Anita, nine years old

“It gives me a headache to think about that stuff. I’m just a kid. I don’t need that kind of trouble.” -Will, seven years old

Check out my other Thursday Thirteens on The Book Stacks and Fiction Scribe

Happy Wednesday!

And happiest of birthdays to my wonderful, wonderful husband. I look forward to many more together.

In the spirit of celebration, I’m doing another mega round of random word bank. However, not all of them are going to work like usual, so be sure to pay attention to the rules.

Remember, with all the words, you can use any form, any tense of the word. Eg. Laugh can be laugh, laughter, laughs, laughed.

For the first word bank, I don’t want you to write a short story or anything actually. What I want you to do is word association. For every word there, I want you to write the word and then write the first word that comes to your mind after.

For the second word bank, I do want you to write a short story (or something longer if you like) that incorporates this week’s theme: laughter. This round goes as usual; just include all of the words in the bank.

For the third word bank, it is something different yet again. I would like you to try your hand at writing a poem incorporating the words provided. I don’t think I have asked you to write poetry before, so it should be something new and fun for you.

Enjoy!

The word banks:

(more…)

Happy Tuesday!

Yes, I’m excited that it’s Tuesday because if it’s Tuesday, then tomorrow is Wednesday the 16th which also happens to be my husband’s birthday.

I love getting my husband presents.

As you know, this week’s theme is laughter. I know, it may seem like a bit of an odd theme, but I assure you it’s not.

Today I would like you to write about laughter (obviously). No idea what to write? Ask yourself a few of these questions to get you started:

What makes you laugh? Do you laugh easily? When is the last time you had a good, full belly laugh? Do you like the sound of your laugh? Are you good at making people laugh?

If you’re still unsure, read my response to the prompt…

(more…)