Write Anyway

Welcome to a move me Tuesday here on Write Anyway. This week we’re discussing getting back to normal life after a big event happens. The topic is a rather broad one, and it happens to everyone, so I’m sure you can think of something to write about.

Take a few moments in front of your computer or notebook and take some deep breaths. This should clear your mind a bit so you can focus.

Think of a big (or small) event in your life that took you away from ‘normal’ life for any period of time. Perhaps you had a baby. Have you gone on vacation? Perhaps you got the chance to go to another country for a while and then came back. Or maybe you have gone through the unfortunate loss of a loved one.

Pick one event.

Not all of these events means going back to life exactly the way it was. The loss of a loved one could mean life was never quite the same afterward. Surgery could mean something changed physically and/or mentally. Even so, you had to at least attempt to find some normalcy or routine.

Write to me about that quest. What was it like for you when you settled back in? Did it take a long time for the ‘dust to settle’? How did life change from before the event to after the event? Would you want to go back to before the event?

Take some time and truly sort out the feelings surrounding the event and the things that changed because of it.

Happy Halloween everyone! While Australians don’t much get into Halloween, that doesn’t mean I have forgotten about it by any means. In my childhood I had my share of dressing up, parties, candy, scary music, and scary people handing out candy.

Today, instead of just having my usual random word bank, I am going to have the word bank for those of you who don’t/haven’t celebrated Halloween along with a challenge for those who have!

Let’s get started!

For those of you who don’t have any Halloween memories, feel free to use this random word bank like you do other Wednesdays. You can also use this as an opportunity to dust off your research skills and find out the roots of the holiday.

Moon
Wind
Mystery
Clear
Pebbles
Wide
Black
Stick
Hide
Night

Have fun!

For those of you who have Halloween memories to share, why not put them in your biography? Good, bad, whatever; no matter how bland you might think the memories are, they could be interesting to someone else. What was your favourite candy? Your favourite costume? Did your family have any Halloween traditions you loved? Hated?

If you are writing your biography in a journal, you could do it scrapbook style and include a few pictures if you have any. Don’t forget the Halloween traditions and fun you have now! Do you go out with friends? Do you take your kids out? Do you hand make their costumes? All are memories you might want to share with someone sometime.

Enjoy! Explore your memories.

Passion:

strong feeling or emotion
heat: the trait of being intensely emotional
rage: something that is desired intensely; “his rage for fame destroyed him”
mania: an irrational but irresistible motive for a belief or action
a feeling of strong sexual desire
love: any object of warm affection or devotion; “the theater was her first love”; “he has a passion for cock fighting”

Passion can come in many forms, be it a romantic, candlelit dinner or a rousing political speech. It can be quiet, loud, hard and unforgiving, or gentle and comforting.

What are you passionate about in your life?

Write about whatever stirs you, be it the love in your life or the latest political issue that really gets you going. Is there a particular book you’re reading or have just finished that has left you wanting all your friends to read it so you can all talk about it? Is there an issue in your community that isn’t being addressed that puts in speech mode – even if the only one you can give your speech to is your dog?

Examples of some of the things that get me going are my Pet Peeves over on Fiction Scribe. Some are merely small annoyances, but sometimes I tap into the real gems that make me so annoyed I could rant on about them for ages. Other things I get impassioned about are things like babies being fed things from McDonalds and the way overweight people are treated by other people, stores, etc.

It can truly be anything you care to write about in any form. Even write your own speech if you care to. Pick something that moves you and write your heart out.

There’s definitely something to that saying, you know. Even if it’s just a matter of locations around your own home. Where I live, I prefer doing work writing from my desk in the spare room, but I have found I have an easier time novel writing in my bedroom, strangely enough.

Yesterday I posted up some songs about various locations (feel free to post links to your favourite location songs in the comments) which I hope helped you get in the mood to write about this week’s theme.

Today I want you to think about a place you have travelled to. Where it was doesn’t matter, so long as you can get a clear picture of it in your mind.

Write about that place. Was it a completely foreign place? What made it different? Was there anything there that made it feel, look, smell, etc the same as ‘home’? Did you have to dress differently? Learn a different language? What about the food? The people? What did you like/dislike about the place? Do you want to go back?

Alternatively, if you have yet to travel and thus don’t have a place to write about, try writing about a place you would like to go. Real or made up, it’s your choice. Write about what the place is like or what you think it will be like. What makes you want to travel there? What appeals to you? What doesn’t appeal to you? If/when you go will you have to learn a new language or dress differently than you normally would?

Tell me about your strange and wonderful places.

Hosted by Elisa of The Book Stacks

Freedom can mean something different to each person that you ask. It’s a favorite theme of films, books, and music. Remember William Wallace in “Braveheart”? “They may take our lives, but they’ll never take… OUR FREEDOM!”

When you are a child, you dream of the freedom you’ll have when you grow up. Sometimes freedom can be getting out of a bad relationship. To some folks freedom is being able to marry whomever you wish. It’s a loss of impediment. It’s the ability to choose something for yourself.

What does freedom mean to you? Think of a time when you felt restricted. How old were you? What were you stopped from doing? Did you manage to overcome the opposition? If so, how did you reach your goal? If not, what did you try? Do you have a different perspective on the situation now?

Let me feel your frustration.

Does anyone else remember that song? I certainly do. I even remember the little scene they had to go along with it…

It was in one of the Julia Roberts movies where she is in love with a man about to get married… Funny movie…

Anyway.

What do you wish for? Do you want the bigger house? More money? A guarantee that your children will be safe and sound after you’re gone? Do you miss someone and wish they would/could contact you? Are you wishing for the person you are going to marry to come into your life?

Or do you wish everyone would stop pestering you about getting married?

If you’re not currently wishing hard and often for anything in particular, what have you wished for in the past. What has meant so much to you in your life you wished it would come true?

Write about your wishes - even if you need to write in your diary/journal because they are secret wishes, explore your full imagination. If you wish for purple sunflowers and a pink sky, then so be it! Don’t let the prospect of possible judgments stop you from wishing for anything and everything your heart desires.

After all, what’s the saying again? Dream big?

To help you write and focus, remember to take some deep breaths and concentrate on the topic before you start writing. Focus on the word ‘wish’ or try to focus on your breathing so you can clear your mind.

Remember, have some fun!

There are plenty of words and phrases that complete the first part of the title of this post, and that’s part of your job today.

Rain can be a lovely or miserable thing, depending on the circumstances. Today I want you to focus on the negative side of the spectrum. Write a scene which involves rain and a negative emotion. It can involve one person, no one, or a dozen.

The plot is really up to you. I only challenge you to involve rain and negative emotion.

Have fun!

There’s nothing quite like unrequited love. You ache for the object of your affection. You think of how much better your life would be if that person would hurry up and love you back already.

S/He may do things wrong at times, but it’s okay because you still love him/her. Maybe s/he knows, maybe not. Should you tell? Perhaps you shouldn’t. And yet, when s/he comes into your view, your eyes all all for him/her and you wish nothing more than to run over and tell him/her everything is going to be okay.

What a feeling. I’ve been through it plenty of times and it never gets easier, and your mind never gets less rosy about it.

Today I want you to write about your unrequited love. You may have a few, but pick out one and go with it.

How did it happen? Did your love slowly grow, or did it hit you all of the sudden? What was s/he like? What made you fall so hard? Was s/he with someone else? Were you mortified if you did anything “stupid” around him/her?

Tell me about it.

This Friday we’re going to do something a little different. Feel free to do a free write on respect, but try this out also.

I’ve talked about respecting other people this week. I’ve even talked about the qualities in other people which inspire respect in me towards those people. However, this is one sort of respect I haven’t really touched on.

Self-respect.

I’d like you to write about self-respect. What does it mean to you? Is it important to you? Do you respect yourself? Do you think other people respect themselves?

Tell me about what self-respect means to you and whether or not you respect yourself.

This week’s theme of forgiveness is one very close to my heart. I’ve been forgiven of so much in my life and forgiven others of a lot too. I’ve also withheld forgiveness and still do to this day.

There are also the religious things that surround forgiveness. Ask forgiveness for your sins. Forgive others lest ye not be forgiven.

That sort of thing.

So tell me about a time someone did something terrible to you. What happened? When? Did you forgive them? If so, how long did it take? If not, do you think you’ll ever forgive him/her/them? Did the guilty party even ask for forgiveness? If you had done the same thing, would you expect forgiveness?

Move me.

If you would like to see a thought-provoking entry for this prompt, look here on Amanda’s blog.

There are a lot of things to be mad about in this life, but alternatively, there are a lot of things to be grateful for. You don’t need anyone to tell you what to be grateful for - it’s what you are happy about having in your life. That your life couldn’t quite be the same without.

Some people are grateful for their children, spouse, home, job…and some people are even grateful that, in this day and age, you can send something around the world to places you’ve never been. Or grateful for something so simple as a red carnation.

Today I want you to pick one thing you are grateful for. Then write why you are grateful for it. After that, write a little bit about your life/day/whichever if that special element had not come into your life.

If you would like to read a response to this prompt, visit Amanda here.

Lies.

We’ve all told them and all have had them told to us. It could be something as innocent as telling a child a fairy will come take their tooth and leave a quarter, or it could be something as life-shattering as adultery.

This week’s prompt should be easy to write about given its universal experience. Write about a time you have lied, a time you have been lied to, or a lie you have observed happening. What happened? Did the truth come out? If so, what happened when it did?

If you would like to read a great post about lying and motherhood, go here on The Good, The Bad, and The Mischief. Thank you to Amanda for pointing me to it. I hadn’t even thought about lying from that standpoint.

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?

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.

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?