Haiku On My Mind - writercize #59

A few days ago I came across a sweet little blog called Haiku Corner.  The author can turn anything at all into a slice of haiku heaven (cats, gas prices, jello anyone?), so it's got my brain trying to convert everyday thoughts into haiku. 

Haiku, for anyone unfamiliar with the term, refers to a poem comprised of three lines.  The first has five syllables, the second has seven syllables, and the third is back to five syllables.  In its truest form, this Japanese poetry abides by several more rules, the most important of which juxtaposes two ideas.  For a beginner such as myself, the syllables are enough of a challenge, and the 5/7/5 rule generally satisfies the English notion of Haiku.

writing exercise:  Compose a haiku poem inspired by your current state of mind.  You may find it helpful to draw on nature or physical comparisons to illustrate your point.

Click "read more" to see writercizer sample response on sorting out my house and mind.

Multidimensional Character - Success & Secrets - writercize #58

When I open up a novel, I like a character with layers and undertones and some good old-fashioned internal strife.  Give me hope, vulnerability, frustration, insecurity, sadness, relief, deception.  Realistic desires and relationships mixed with slightly exaggerated reactions and behaviors.  Characters who are all good or all bad just don't do it for me - they aren't a challenge to get to know, and I bore easily of them, put down the book, forget why they mattered.

I find that characters I am drawn to in literature would most likely drive me insane in real life; they may be too self-absorbed or conniving or generally screwed up, but I love to escape into their nutty worlds.  Give me a character who's successful with a dark and dirty backstory or a character deemed as a failure by all around them but internally the greatest success there is (Holden Caulfield, Ignatius J. Reilly).

Today's writercize is all about building depth and exposing a character's layers to see straight to the core.

writing exercise:  Take 5-10 minutes to write a short story or character study using the sentence below as your prompt. 

prompt:  To the outside world, everything about Alex screamed success - good looks, supportive family, a plenitude wealth - but beneath the surface ...

You may interpret it any way you wish, and expose the character from any angle (his/her own POV or that of an omniscient narrator or other character in the story).  Feel free to delve into fantasy or sci fi if that's your thing too!  Copy and paste the prompt into the comment section and type away.

 

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response.

Blogs with Heart - writercize #57

Blogs With Heart.  Sounds like a modern Native American moniker.  Dances with Wolves.  Sitting Bull.  Little Wolf.  Blogs with Heart.

Today, "Blogs With Heart" is the name and award I am bestowing on a friend, Christina.  She is a fashionista, handbag designer, blogger, entrepreneur, mom, traveler and all around pretty amazing individual.  This week, inspired by her travels to Egypt and her commitment to raising awareness for women and children, she launched a fundraising campaign in partnership with the Young Mother's Shelter of Hope Village Society in Egypt.  She is modeling 140 outfits daily during the second half of her pregnancy over at her blog, Christina Elaine, to raise awareness and link to the campaign website. Her goal is to raise $2,000 in 105 days for this great cause.  The first post on the project includes an overview of the project and photos of Christina in a cute combo of jeans, floral blouse, sweater and belt, and the second post is of a long flowing dress in a field of flowers.  She's a beautiful model and stylist!

I wanted to recognize her for using her blog to make a charitable difference in the lives of others, real people who need help out in the "real world" (read: offline).  I searched around the web for a blog award that fit the purpose but couldn't find one, so I decided to create one.  I am by no means a designer and have no clue what I am doing with computer artwork, so it's pretty rudimentary, but I think it serves its purpose.  

writing exercise:  You have two options for today's writing exercise!

1 - Bestow the "Blogs with Heart" award on another blogger (or two or more) who have used their blogs to make a difference in the world and WRITE about why they deserve it!  This could be by raising awareness for a particular issue, fundraising, organizing and soliciting volunteers for a project or event - interpret the award as you wish.  To pass it on, feel free to grab the image out of this message, but please also include comment with a link to the recipient's page and description of the reason for passing on the award so that we can all learn about their blog!

2 - If you aren't a regular blogger, make your own award on paper for a friend or family member to recognize them for something they do that you think is pretty special! 

Name Jumble - writercize #56

It was a long, late night of writing for a freelance gig last night, so today I'm taking it easy on the writing front.  Who's up for a little word play?

writing exercise:  Using your last name, jumble the letters to find as many words as you can in a couple of minutes.  If your last name is short or you're up for more of a challenge, throw in your first and/or middle name as well!

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response using the last name Garrigues.

A Mouse in the House and Animals that Rhyme - writercize #55

Sadly, we have a mouse in the house.  It is an uninvited guest with a chocolate-snatching habit and sly as a fox intelligence.  

Our preference is that it vacate the premises immediately without incident.  Since this does not seem to be the mouse's preference, the more likely scenario will involve the mouse's end.  We tried to catch it with cheese on a glue trap, but it stood on the trap, ate the cheese, and somehow used super-rodent strength to break free.  The next day we saw four paw prints sunk into the glue, but no food and no mouse.  We tried to lure it into a box of poisonous mouse food, with the idea that it would consume the food and return to its nest outside to pass away.  Apparently, salty mouse poison is not appealing to a mouse with a sweet tooth.  

Today we discovered the mouse had somehow climbed up a tall table, into a bowl and snatched Kit Kat bars out of the box, back to the ground, behind the couch, opened the wrappers and eaten them.  The mouse has serious dexterity and bravado.  If it were not a mouse, I would want to catch it alive and encourage it to join the circus.  But it's a mouse and it's spending nights in my house, and as much as I hate to kill any creature (besides mosquitoes and spiders that is) I want it gone.  Yesterday.  So, tonight we shall devise a new plan and hope for no more nocturnal visitors in the very near future.

While I was contemplating the best way to semi-humanely dispose of this mouse in the house, the kids' writer part of me started to have fun with the way a mouse in the house rhymes, so out of a frustrating situation in our living room, tonight's writercize was born.

writing exercise:  Write a poem or short-story about an animal or animals in rhyme.  If you need help brainstorming animals, here are a few that are easy to find rhyming words:  cat, frog, dog, horse, cow, mouse, rat, bug, pig, fish.  Some animal ideas if you're looking for more of a challenge:  monkey, donkey, zebra, hippo, camel, spider.

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response.

Hey, What's Your Goal? - writercize #54

It is my belief that there are two primary types of people in this world - those whose expectations of themselves far exceeds that of what anyone else could possibly think to expect of them, and those who set the bar so low of their self-expectations that others are continuously trying to pull them up.

Both types of people are set up for disappointment, the first disappoint themselves and the second disappoint others.  

That is not to say that disappointment is necessarily a negative thing; at times it can help us better recognize our strengths, weaknesses and limitations.  In this way, we have the power to alter either our thinking or behavior to change future outcomes.

I am a classic example of someone who sets the bar higher than I can reach.  However, I feel that as long as I am able recognize my limitations when necessary and forgive myself for my perceived short-comings (oh so important!) this quality of setting high expectations is a very good thing.  It allows me to dream BIG.  Most of these dreams remain in my head and I enjoy playing them out every once in a while (win Pulitzer, discover mosquito repellent so effective that insect-born disease is obliterated, win Oscar for Best Actress, encourage all citizens to take part in community building, and the list goes on and on and on).  

Clearly these are not true expectations of myself, but when I find a dream that is important enough to grab onto, I try to convert it into a reasonable goal, with attainable results within a practical time frame.  Sometimes, my goals will aim a little high to keep something just out of reach, so that I can keep striving and challenging myself.

Speaking of challenges, since I do love them oh so much, I've decided to check out the Group Blogging Experience - aka GBE 2 - brought to my attention by Marie over at Write, Wrong or Indifferent.  It's basically a group of people who receive a weekly prompt to incorporate into their blog sometime during the week.  Great concept.  You can sign on to Facebook to receive the prompt by looking for a group called "GBE 2: Blog On."  This week's prompt was expectations, which was very convenient since I was planning to write on goal setting anyhow!

Now that intros have been taken care of, onto today's writercize.  Please post your writercize result as a comment!

writing exercise:  Think of yourself ten years into the future.  Allow your mind to wander and dream to identify your achievements - personal and professional alike.  Identify 3-5 of these achievements that you would like to pursue as a goal, and write it down.  

I like the ten year time period because it allows you to dream bigger than short-term one or two year goals.  It also allows you enough distance that if for whatever reason you are unable to achieve the goal, you haven't fallen as short of your own expectations as a short-term goal.  You can always chock ten years up to a different path life decided to take rather than a personal failure, and that flexibility feels good.

Click "read more" to see writercizer sample response.

Food on the Brain - writercize #53

For whatever reason, lately I have serious food on the brain.  

It could be because I just returned from visiting my in-laws, where the meal is undoubtedly the highlight of the day.  It could be because getting back, the fridge was completely devoid of food so I went grocery shopping starving and ended up with an unbelievable amount of food.  It could be because my stomach is craving everything it didn't get to eat for a few weeks while I was away, as well as everything that it did eat.  Whatever it is, I'm obsessively thinking about my next meal.  I used to tease my mother-in-law about this; she would literally begin talking about dinner while doing the lunch dishes, but for the past few days I am beginning to understand her a little better.

So, today's writercize is all about food.  Give me some good ideas, and try not to drool on your keyboard!

writing exercise:  How would you prepare the following ingredients?  A few of the ingredients are a little autumnal for this time of year, but run with it if you can and feel free to add any additional ingredients.  Maybe we'll do a summer one in a few weeks.  Write your own recipe or share good prep techniques.

• prosciutto
• squash
• zucchini
• tomatoes
• cucumbers

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response, including pasta dish, cold cuts and salad.