Look. Write. - writercize #AtoZChallenge 3.12

Please note: writercize (a portmanteau of write and exercise with a z for ... a twist? fun? street cred?) is participating in the A to Z Challenge through the month of April with alphabetical writing prompts. I'm skipping the stories behind the prompts so you can spend more time practicing and less time reading! Please participate, and enjoy!

writercize: Use any one or combination of the photos below to inspire a caption, story or poem.

I love reading your comments and especially your writercize results, so please, drop me a line to let me know if this worked for you! Better yet, share your attempt with the world in your comment!

And, if you let me know you stopped by, I will be sure to pay you a visit as soon as I am able!

Skipping the writercizer sample response this round since these are all my photos and I'd rather hear what you have to say about them. :)

Caption It! Contest at How is Bradley?

Long-time followers know I love a good writercize accompanied by an image. Pictures are not only powerful communication tools - they are great fun to inspire captions and stories!

Today I ran across a post by a true to life friend that I wanted to share with all of you. He is starting up a weekly "Caption It" contest on his "How is Bradley?" blog. 

The blog in general is an invaluable resource for anyone struggling with bipolar disorder or weight loss - he is an honest and perceptive voice - but, the Caption It contest is all about humor. Brad is a really funny guy, and I always appreciate his unique ability to laugh in the face of adversity. 

I am fortunate to not face bipolar disorder or weight loss in my own life, but I certainly have family and friends whom I love and adore who deal with one or the other, and that portion of his blog helps me gain a deeper understanding of what they are dealing with.

Beyond that, I hope you will join me every Wednesday for a little humor with Brad as we find out what in the world he may ask us to caption. I won't totally give this week's photo away, because I want you to see it for yourself, but let's just say there is booty shaking and grumpy old men. Now, go. Have fun with it! I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Caption It! - writercize #173 #AtoZChallenge

What a great start to the A to Z Challenge! Thank you challenge participants for the visits and all the great comments. I am really glad to have the opportunity to share writercize with you and visit your blogs as well.

After a couple of long posts, we'll keep this one short and simple ... and fun. Sometimes when the writing just refuses to come, a photo can wriggle it loose.

While a photo may be worth a thousand words, its caption is considerably shorter. Use humor or journalism to tell us what is happening.

writercize: Write a caption for the following photo.

Have fun with it! Leave your caption as a comment below, and be sure to include your link so that I can come visit you too.

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response. (And while captions are not my forte', particularly humorous ones, it's good to keep on picking at weaknesses, I think!)

Get Outta Here! - writercize #170

As a writer, I spend altogether too much time inside my head, and I find that it is good practice to remind myself to turn off the computer, get away from the screen, put down the pen, turn off the voice in my head, and get out of the house for a nice long walk. So that is exactly what I want you to do today. Break away from your head, breathe deeply and live in the moment. Oh, and take a camera.

writercize: Reboot your creative juices by turning off the writer and open yourself up to new possibilities. Grab your camera and go for a walk around the neighborhood. 

Click a few photos of the world around you to record your journey and see the world in a different light.

Breathe. Smile. Skip, run, jump, walk backwards. Enjoy the spring and breathe in life. Whatever you do, do not compose any sort of story or description in your mind.

Inspiration will come later.

I'll be back with a photo from my walk later in the week for a new writercize for everyone to try, but today I will treat myself to a little reboot and pause from the writercize sample response for a day.

Caption What? - writercize #135

If a picture is worth one thousand words, can you pare it down the best dozen or so to describe it?  Today, I invite you to give it a try!  

writercize:  Using the photo below as inspiration, compose a caption. 

Need a genre?  Why not pick from one (or more) of the following: science fiction, comedy or mystery?  Or stick with straight journalism.

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response about Georg and his unfortunate fate.

From Pieces to Plot - writercize #98

I recently purchased a fantastic game for my kids, one full of wonder, intrigue, cute graphics and, every writer's favorite, unlimited story-telling opportunities.  And it's sturdy.

The game is by eeBoo, a great toy company with all sorts of creative games, and it's called Fairytale Spinner Game.  If you have girls who like to use their imaginations, buy it!  If you have boys, well, there are still ogres and foxes and kings and they just might like it too if they can get past the giant princess picture on the top of the box.

Kids and their grown up friends spin to collect a hero, a rival, a helper, a magical object, a mean of transportation, a treasure and an enchanted place.  Once they have collected all their objects, they create a story.  I love how simple pieces and objects combine to create an entire plot, so I thought I would share one combination of the pieces (minus the enchanted place - you can make that up) and see what you come up with!

writercize:  Using the six objects in the photo to the right, write a short story.  

If the photo is not clear, you will be working with: magic feather, princess, ogre, puss in boots (or other thigh-high boot-wearing cat with a feather in it's cap), hot air balloon, golden tree.  Be creative and have fun with it!

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response.

Where Are The Rings? - writercize #92

I'm feeling ready to be back from a bit of a drought with the Group Blogging Experience - aka GBE2, managed by the fabulous, witty, talented Elizabeth Grace - at least for the immediate future.  

Summer hit me hard with blogging; I had no idea how much thinking ... and relaxing ... and refreshing ... and energizing ... I was getting in the 20 minute drive to preschool twice a week.  My deepest apologies to those whose blogs I have been lax about visiting; I shall return to you in the fall, and in the meantime, I really, truly do appreciate your comments and visits to my page!

Ok, so all that touchy stuff out of the way, this week the GBE2 prompt is a photo, and I'm a big fan of image-inspired writing.  Get ready for your photographic muse, thinking outside the box and a little short fiction!

writing exercise:  See the lovely photo of rings to the right.  Now, imagine where those rings might be.  Write a scene, poem or short story about it.

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response about two brothers and some missing rings.

Tending The Money Tree - writercize #74

I'm a big lover of fables because they are short, sweet and impart a nice lesson that can be referred back to when reminding young children of what they should be doing.  Sometimes, I believe adults could use a little return to the world of fables themselves.  Check out the Aesop's Fables website for more than 600 fables by the infamous author, thoughtfully indexed both alphabetically and by lesson.

For those unfamiliar with fables, or curious about the difference between a fable and a parable, something I had never even though to ask, check out Wikipedia's definition:  

"A fable is a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized (given human qualities), and that illustrates a moral lesson (a "moral"), which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim.

A fable differs from a parable in that the latter excludes animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as actors that assume speech and other powers of humankind."

I'm currently trying to think of a way to alter "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" into a more feminine story to make my girls understand the concept of not whining or crying unless it's totally worth it.  I'll let you know if I find success.  In the meantime, I have a photo prompt for you thanks to the Group Blogging Experience that I'll work off of to find another moral to impart.

writercize:  Using the photo of the elusive money tree below, pick a moral and write a fable to match!

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response about Joshua's money tree.

Space to Improvise - writercize #66

This afternoon I headed down to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and had a blast playing in an outdoor installation created with these long yellow-green stringy tubes.  One of the most interesting aspects of it all was watching how people interacted with the space and what stories they invented for what those strings could be.  It was like being in a free outdoor comedy improv workshop.

I know it's not the same as a tactile experience, but I took a few photos to share.  Sometimes simple exposure to something different from the every day can inspire outside the box thinking and writing!

writing exercise: Imagine various scenarios inspired by this space.

Click "read more" to see the writercizer sample response.

Photo Inspiration - writercize #50

Inspiration can come from anywhere - silent meditation, conversation with a friend, in the shower, on the road, in a book, from a blog - but today, I'd like you to use a photograph for inspiration.

writing exercise:  Write a poem, vignette or short story inspired by the photo below.

(Click "read more" for writercizer response.)