Write Anyway

Hello once again everyone!

Welcome to another mid-week random word bank. I rather like random word banks. There is a challenge in them that not only gets your mind working, but you can also end up with a scene that you didn’t know you had it in you to write.

I hope you find these word banks useful. If there is a type of prompt you would prefer to see, please let me know.

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. 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. (Don’t worry if you can’t quite use all the words; eight or nine is great!)

Enjoy!

First Word Bank
Thunder
Catalyst
Television
Horse
Book
Blue
Water
Wait
Discover
Smell

Second Word Bank
Landlord
Yard
Fence
Tan
Hot
Men
Argument
Sweep
Sigh
Mother

Third Word Bank
Ask
The
Into
Whisper
Need
Grasp
Soft
Wonder
Move
Me

***Remember to leave a link to your responses!

To symbolize means to “represent or identify by using a symbol“. For example, this - $ - symbolizes money. This - + - symbolizes addition. Or, alternatively, it can symbolize positive.

Our lives are filled with symbols. The green light of traffic lights means go. It doesn’t say go, but the lit up green light means that it is your turn to go. A number in a red circle means the speed limit. Black and yellow tape around something or an area usually means caution.

If you start thinking about all the symbols you see, even in just one day, you begin to realize just how much we are directed by objects and ideas, signs and symbols. It’s quite amazing when you think about the scale of it. On the other hand, it can be a little disturbing, too.

Today, let the inspiration take you where it will. Write a list about the symbols and symbolism you see in the room around you. Think about the symbols you encounter everyday. Write a scene or short story where the symbols you know are all opposite. Write about what a world with no symbols would be like. Could there ever be such a thing?

Remember, to help clear your mind before you start writing, take a few deep breaths. Focus on the sound of the air entering and leaving your lungs. Let the noises and worries of the day fade for a few moments while you focus only on breathing.

After you are calm, think about your experiences and start writing.

Wishing you heaps of creativity, a generous muse and heaps of time to write.

Hello everyone and welcome to a gorgeous Australia Day Musical Monday.

That’s right; it’s Australia Day over here and I am personally celebrating by… being sick. Bah! However, I am also celebrating by featuring Australian musicians/singers for today’s Musical Monday. I am also throwing in a beer commercial just for kicks because, well, what’s Australia Day without a stubbie or two?

From Wikipedia (just because I’m lazy like that):

“Australia Day, also known as Anniversary Day and Foundation Day, is the official national day of Australia. Celebrated annually on 26 January, the day commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, the unfurling of the British flag at Sydney Cove and the proclamation of British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of Australia.

Australia Day is an official public holiday in every state and territory of Australia, and is marked by the Order of Australia and Australian of the Year awards, along with an address from the Prime Minister.

Records of the celebration of Australia Day date back to 1808, with Governor Lachlan Macquarie having held the first official celebration of Australia Day in 1818. In 2004, an estimated 7.5 million people attended Australia Day celebrations and functions across the country.”

Enjoy!

There are a lot more songs out there, so do some hunting! I hope you find this music inspirational.

If you have any suggestions for singers or bands you’d like to see featured, let me know in the comments. I won’t promise to put all selections up, but I do promise to take a look.

Have an excellent week.

I know it’s a bit early, but the deadline to sign up is January 31st…

In celebration of St. Patty’s Day, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is passing on the Luck o’ the Irish to you! Sign up for a Luck O’ the Irish March Tour before January 31, 2008 and you will receive this great book promotion package!

* One virtual book tour (March ‘09 only)
* A minimum of 15 - 20 visits on blogs and websites geared specifically for your book, with possibilities of appearing at Reuters, USA Today, Chicago Times, Washington Post and high profile news sites
* Press releases which are specifically written for your book and are syndicated to hundreds of news sites
* Full publicity including but not restricted to daily postings about your book through social networks and other media
* Personalized tour banner
* Personalized tour page

The special price for this package is only $299 and only available for purchase between Dec. 15 - Jan. 31. This discount cannot be applied after the deadline.

Payments can be made via PayPal (Paypal accepts most major credit cards), money order or check.

This special is available not only for books that are recently released, but also for books that were released in the last 2 years.

Space is limited and will be on a first come, first serve basis.

If you are interested, please fill in the form below and one of our representatives will be in contact shortly.

Thank you and pump up that book!

Dorothy Thompson
CEO/Founder Pump Up Your Book Promotion
www.pumpupyourbookpromotion.com

Go here for more details on this special promotion.

I am so happy it’s Friday! I am beyond elated that it’s Friday. This week has been so crazy, between work out of the house, work at home, hot temperatures - brain-melting hot temperatures - and everything else.

Not that I’ll get to rest on the weekend or anything…

Kidding. I am going to rest as much as possible this weekend. I just plain haven’t been feeling well at all and now I can finally stop working and do some important things like get some sleep… Bleugh. I HATE being sick.

Then again, who doesn’t?

Okay, enough of my whining. Time for this week’s Friday Fill-Ins!

1. Oh, I am so sick! I hate being sick! Make it go away!

2. 2009 should bring a lot of changes, big and little.

3. During the shower, I do not sing, boringly enough.

4. I’m sick; are you kidding me???

5. Right now I’d like to be not sick, not needing to catch up on work, a faster reader, sleeping, eating ice cream, a million dollars richer...

6. My laptop is my favorite gadget.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to getting some sleep and all that good stuff, tomorrow my plans include getting all caught up on work and getting well and Sunday, I want to be all well and stuff because there is a computer parts swap meet and such that I want to go to!

Well, it’s a long weekend here in Australia (yay Australia Day!) so I might not be back to post Sunday Scribblings or Musical Monday. *gasp!* Yes, I know. Horrible stuff.

Even so, I hope you all have a wonderful, safe weekend.

Hello and happy Thursday Thirteen, all. As per usual, I will be giving you a list of thirteen prompts in all shapes and sizes. They could be a first line of dialogue, a plot idea, or something else. I hope you enjoy and pick and choose as you please.

If there are any other types of prompts that you would find useful, let me know anytime.

Have a great day.

1. “There’ll be hell today.”
2. Do you have a memory of some past event or person that haunts you?
3. Write a scene about first love and whatever that means to you.
4. Explain something simple - an action, a food, the way something works - to someone who is new to Earth.
5. “I’m not afraid when you’re near me.”
6. Could you survive alone in the forest? The mountains? For how long?
7. Pick a pivotal moment in your life and write about what you think your life would be had you chosen/acted differently.
8. If you had a superpower that most reflected your personality, what would it be?
9. “Shut up. Just shut up.”
10. Write a scene placed in another country.
11. Who do you admire?
12. Write a letter to someone from the perspective of someone you know.
13. “I truly am thrilled to be here.”

Hello once again everyone!

Welcome to another mid-week random word bank. I rather like random word banks. There is a challenge in them that not only gets your mind working, but you can also end up with a scene that you didn’t know you had it in you to write.

I hope you find these word banks useful. If there is a type of prompt you would prefer to see, please let me know.

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. 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. (Don’t worry if you can’t quite use all the words; eight or nine is great!)

Enjoy!

First Word Bank
Train
French
Candle
Singer
Doctor
Wrapper
Eggs
Chocolate
Prat
Mail

Second Word Bank
Bumper
Corn
Need
Guide
Map
Bounce
Yell
Stick
Frown
Girl

Third Word Bank
World
Visit
Down
Pluck
Note
Green
Again
Become
Ask
Memory

***Remember to leave a link to your responses!

When I was younger, I often had music playing while I was writing, working or whatever. When I wasn’t watching television, I was usually off writing or doing chores. Even when mowing the lawn - when wearing headphones didn’t do any good because I couldn’t hear anything anyway - I would think about songs. Heck, I’d often sing them as well because it wasn’t like anyone would hear me over the sound of the motor.

Maybe it’s because I live in a city now - next to a highway, no less - and silence is a rarer commodity than it is in the country… Maybe it’s a concentration thing… Maybe it’s just a part of getting older.

I have been thinking about silence. More often than not, I work without noise. When I do work with noise, it’s usually not the music. I prefer natural sounds like thunderstorms and rain.

But really, I like the silence - what I can get of it.

Today, think about silence. Where does you mind wander when it is silence? Have you ever found true silence? Do you value silence or do you feel things get too quiet for you? Think about uncomfortable silences, comfortable silences, forced silences…

Remember, to help clear your mind before you start writing, take a few deep breaths. Focus on the sound of the air entering and leaving your lungs. Let the noises and worries of the day fade for a few moments while you focus only on breathing.

After you are calm, think about your experiences and start writing.

Wishing you heaps of creativity, a generous muse and heaps of time to write.

Hello and welcome back to Write Anyway!

It is yet another beautiful Monday morning around Melbourne and I am heading out and about to take advantage of the gorgeous weather. But first, of course, it’s time to start the week with some music.

I listened to all sorts of music when I was younger, but I do have to confess that country music started becoming the majority in my music collection. That’s certainly not a bad thing, though, because there is a quality to (some) country music that you won’t find in any other genre.

So it’s with pleasure that I feature a country artist from my personal music listening past: Kenny Chesney

There aren’t a lot of artists out there who are better at helping me relax when I need my characters (or just me!) to relax and have a little fun. He has some serious songs, of course, but a lot of his music is about enjoying life, relaxing and having fun.

I hope you enjoy his music as much as I have over the years.

There are a lot more songs out there, so do some hunting! I hope you find this music inspirational.

If you have any suggestions for singers or bands you’d like to see featured, let me know in the comments. I won’t promise to put all selections up, but I do promise to take a look.

Have an excellent week.

This doesn’t have to be religious (but it can be). Is there something you’d like, in your lifetime, to go far to see? It can be a quirky personal journey to do with your hobbies or interests, or something very serious, meaningful, and/or spiritual. For example, I’d like to make a mango pilgrimage — a mango world tour, to try every variety on the planet; I’d also like to go to Finland to visit Moominworld; and to Calcutta to meet the young girl I sponsor. I have a lot more; how about you?

I love to travel; flying is beyond amazing to me and I love doing it. (And I feel bad for people who are the opposite of me and are afraid of flying.) There are places all over the planet I would like to go to…

The place that I would classify as closest to a ‘pilgrimage’ journey is my urge to go to Perth. I really don’t know much about the place or even specifically why I want to go there; I just feel drawn there like I need to visit. It’s a strange thing, I suppose, but I will get over there sometime.

Another place I would like to go is to Greece. I would love to wander amongst the temples and take in all the wonderful architectural feats that were accomplished there. Then I would go to Egypt (I’ve been told to not go to Egypt first because it will spoil Greece a bit) to take in the Pyramids. My husband went to both places before we met and I just wish we would have known each other back then.

Where would you like to go?

I know it’s a bit early, but the deadline to sign up is January 31st…

In celebration of St. Patty’s Day, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is passing on the Luck o’ the Irish to you! Sign up for a Luck O’ the Irish March Tour before January 31, 2008 and you will receive this great book promotion package!

* One virtual book tour (March ‘09 only)
* A minimum of 15 - 20 visits on blogs and websites geared specifically for your book, with possibilities of appearing at Reuters, USA Today, Chicago Times, Washington Post and high profile news sites
* Press releases which are specifically written for your book and are syndicated to hundreds of news sites
* Full publicity including but not restricted to daily postings about your book through social networks and other media
* Personalized tour banner
* Personalized tour page

The special price for this package is only $299 and only available for purchase between Dec. 15 - Jan. 31. This discount cannot be applied after the deadline.

Payments can be made via PayPal (Paypal accepts most major credit cards), money order or check.

This special is available not only for books that are recently released, but also for books that were released in the last 2 years.

Space is limited and will be on a first come, first serve basis.

If you are interested, please fill in the form below and one of our representatives will be in contact shortly.

Thank you and pump up that book!

Dorothy Thompson
CEO/Founder Pump Up Your Book Promotion
www.pumpupyourbookpromotion.com

Go here for more details on this special promotion.

I swear the day I actually manage to do my Friday Fill-Ins on time is the day I will hold some kind of celebration on this blog. Complete with appetizers and door prizes. Oy. Better late than never, though, right?

107:

1. Enough with the babble! It’s time to start the Friday Fill-Ins.

2. Thinking about all the things I would like out of life for myself and my husband causes me to be conflicted.

3. I’ve been craving seafood.

4. My husband makes me laugh.

5. I wish I could go to Perth next week.

6. Money for buying a house, money for taking a trip, money for getting a dog, and money for having/raising a child has been on my mind lately.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to celebrating my husband’s birthday, tomorrow my plans include getting ahead on work to cover for next weekand Sunday, I want to hopefully get ahead enough so I can play my computer game. Mwhahahaha!

Exciting plans for the weekend here, as per usual. (Can you detect my tone of sarcasm via the internet?) It’ll be nice to have a weekend in for once, though. I can’t believe I’m actually saying that, but it’s the truth. I’m looking forward to it. I’m not looking forward to the work portion of it, but you have to do what you have to do, right?

I hope you all have an excellent weekend filled with whatever you are wishing for most. I will be back… tomorrow with a virtual book tour deal announcement and then back again Sunday with the Sunday Scribblings.

Until then!

Hello and happy Thursday Thirteen, all. This week I’m going to try something a little different and am going to put down song lyrics for your inspiration. (Extra points if you can name all the songs.)

If there are any other types of prompts that you would find useful, let me know anytime.

Have a great day.

1. And so it goes. And so it goes. And you’re the only one who knows.
2. I can’t make you love me, if you won’t.
3. There’s only us. There’s only this.
4. You know you’re everything to me.
5. I’m taking your advice, and I’m looking on the bright side and balancing the whole thing.
6. I don’t want the world to see me ’cause I don’t think that they’d understand.
7. You know I can’t smile without you.
8. Where would you be, if you weren’t here with me? Where would you go…
9. If I were you, I’d promise to live life for all its worth.
10. We call them fools who have to dance within the flame, who chance the sorrow and the shame that always comes with getting burned…
11. How have I come to this? How did I slip and fall?
12. I should have known right from the start.
13. I’m lookin’ like a fool again.

Hello once again everyone!

Welcome to another mid-week random word bank. I rather like random word banks. There is a challenge in them that not only gets your mind working, but you can also end up with a scene that you didn’t know you had it in you to write.

I hope you find these word banks useful. If there is a type of prompt you would prefer to see, please let me know.

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. 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. (Don’t worry if you can’t quite use all the words; eight or nine is great!)

Enjoy!

First Word Bank
Scream
Dog
Ice
Travel
Money
Website
Comic
Understand
Psychic
Soap

Second Word Bank
Fan
Red
Force
Can
Smell
Woman
Comment
Ruler
Lonely
Hiccup

Third Word Bank
Lime
Vanilla
Courtesy
Hand
Reach
Unsure
Hope
Want
Lick
Look

***Remember to leave a link to your responses!

Choices. Our lives are full of choices. It is impossible to do a day without making a choice. (But what if I just stayed in bed all day? I wondered. Well, you would be choosing to stay in bed, now wouldn’t you?)

I have been facing a lot of choices in my life recently and I can’t help but feel a bit flustered about them all. A lot of what I choose now will influence who I become as a person, what my husband and I are able to do in the future.

It’s probably not as melodramatic as I make it out to be, but it certainly feels like it at the moment. Alas, no one can make the choices but me (and my husband in some cases).

What are some of the choices you have made recently - big and small? How do you go about making choices? Do you discuss with people? Make a positive/negative list? Go with indecision? Decide on impulse? What is the most difficult thing you have had to make a choice about? Who is the first person you (would) talk to when making an important choice?

Remember, to help clear your mind before you start writing, take a few deep breaths. Focus on the sound of the air entering and leaving your lungs. Let the noises and worries of the day fade for a few moments while you focus only on breathing.

After you are calm, think about your experiences and start writing.

Wishing you heaps of creativity, a generous muse and heaps of time to write.