Round-About - writercize #AtoZChallenge 3.18

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: Bring your writing full circle. Begin and end a story or poem with the same word.

Pick one of the following or use your own:

• reindeer
• ladybird
• memory
• angel
• queen
• crowd 
• crutch
• mat

(Today's words come from Creativity Games' random word generator.)

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!

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response.

Next Word - writercize #AtoZChallenge 3.14

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: Next word is always a favorite around writercize. It is a free-association game where I give you a word, and you write the first thing that comes to mind, then the first thing that new word inspires, and so on and so forth until you are about five words in.

So, if I said nail, you might go with:

nail - polish - shoe - sock - puppet.

It's a very simple game to play to loosen up your brain cells. If you are feeling particularly brave, you may want to use the words to inspire a story, but don't feel bad leaving the words alone. It's like improv class for actors - just the exercise of instant results through free association helps get your mind in writing shape!

Here are five words for you to begin with. When you are done, you should have about 25 words - the five I gave you and four more free associated from each.

• rain
• bandage
• India
• nun
• creature

(Today's words come from Creativity Games' random word generator.)

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!

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response. 

Five Words - writercize #AtoZChallenge 3.6

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: Always a favorite on this site, I give you five words to use however you wish. Poem, flash fiction, sales pitch - let your imagination be your guide. It is always fascinating to see how each person interprets five words differently. Today's words come from Creativity Games' random word generator.

• profit
• mat
• beggar
• mirror 
• nose

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! 

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response. 

Boomerang: A Mirrored Beginning and Ending - writercize #AtoZChallenge 3.2

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: Challenge yourself to a little creative flash fiction or poetry. Throw out the traditional concept of beginning, middle and end and merge beginning with end. How? 

Begin and end a sentence, paragraph, short story or poem with the same word. 

Hence, the boomerang - send out a single word and bring it back to round out the 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 it with the world. 

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response - a poem beginning and ending with moon.

Enviro-Poem - writercize #191

Today I just want to play with language and create sounds that flow off the tongue. I want to use words like pop, and slithery, and laden - pretty words and startling words. I want to feel them glide through my mind and out of my mouth and transport me to a place that is not my desk chair in the dim light of the night room.

Join me in this literary romp. 

Combine the tools of onomatopoeia (words that evoke a sound) and alliteration (same beginning letter). Challenge yourself to invoke the inner Latin in your soul and bring fanciful words to light. One does not share a secret, one engages in a clandestine conversation. A gem does not simply sparkle, it shoots stars from within. Play with similes and metaphors. Ooze with adjectives and adverbs. Forget about grammar and the writing rules, and just enjoy the sounds of language.

writercize: Pick a place that you love. Conjure the image, the sights, sounds and smells in your mind's eye. Now paint a picture of that place in words. An environmental piece of grammar-optional poetry.

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response. Please leave your writercize result in the comments below!

Next Word - writercize #183 #AtoZChallenge

Next word is a game I play once a month or so here at writercize. 

It is a simple word association game meant to loosen the brain and dump out some words. The rules are easy. I give you a word, and you give me the first word that comes to mind. Explanation optional. 

Fans of the Step by Step show back in the nineties may remember the character Cody spewing out word associations, which very well may have planted the seed in my mind. 

Example: I give you the word table, you may say ... dining, or stop, or restaurant, or chair, or elements ... all answers would be correct. Cody would have taken it ten words deep, but I only ask you for one. 

I love to see how meaning is in the eyes of the beholder and get a glimpse into how different minds work. If you want an extra bonus writing twist, create a story using all of your "next words." 

writercize: Tell me the first word that comes to mind for each of the following words: 

• pop 
• shake 
• wood 
• curl 
• rock 

Please leave your next words in a comment. I love to see all the different answers! Be sure to leave your website so I can pay you a visit. 

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response. 

Linked - writercize #181 #AtoZChallenge

First off, let me apologize to everyone who has been entering a word verification for comments to my blog! I just turned it off again for probably the fifth time over the past year and can't figure out why it keeps defaulting back to the word verification! If you have read this post and notice a CAPTCHA pop up in the future, please let me know because it is NOT meant to be on this blog! 

Second, due to the busy schedule of A to Z, I am finding it difficult to keep up with judging and posting #WeekendWritercize results, so I have decided to suspend it for the rest of the month of April. Look for a strong comeback in May! For those unfamiliar with the #WeekendWritercize, it is a flash fiction competition that starts Saturday morning and closes Sundays at midnight Pacific time. Check out the tab for more info.

 Ok, now ... onto the meat of the linked challenge. Sometimes we run across two items or people that clearly do not look like they belong together. 

For example, I found a clawfoot bathtub in an open field while hiking at the foot of the Alps. Very odd. 

Or think of Hugh Hefner and his teenage bunnies. Were he not famous, an elderly man nuzzling the neck of a young buxom vixen would certainly prompt some questions. 

How about a cowboy at the Opera? Or a Ferrari at a rodeo? 

For today's exercise, think of a couple of things that don't quite fit together and find the link between them. You can come up with the two unrelated items or people on your own, or you can pick from a few prompts below. 

writercize: Find and explain the link between two seemingly unrelated people or items found together. 

Here are a few options to get you started: 

• wedding ring in a shoe store 
• wine glass in kindergarten classroom 
• yuppie and hippie 
• homeless man and soccer coach 
• cassette tape at Apple store 
• baseball bat in bowling alley 
• textbook and picture book 
• scarecrow on skyscraper rooftop 
• indiginous amazonian tribal member on great wall of china 
• Queen of England and American farmer 

Pick any of the unrelated pairs above, or create your own, and create a reason they are together! 

Post as a comment, and be sure to link to your blog so that I can visit! 

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response. 

The Pope's Perfume - writercize #167

The red-soled 84-year-young Pope Benedict XVI is reported to have commissioned his very own scent, inspired by nature and meant to bring about a peaceful, meditative state. The cologne will not be available for sale at Catholic churches worldwide, and the precise formula will be kept as secret as the inner shelves of the Vatican Library, but it's stirring up quite the flurry of interest as the Prada-wearing Pope allows himself the sweet-smelling indulgence. 

Today's writercize is all about playing with words and having a little fun with this papal news.

writercize: Pick a name for the Pope's perfume.

Have fun with it and let me know what you come up with!

Click "read more" for a writercize sample response.

Next Word - writercize #166

Next Word is a really easy-breezy game I play every once in a while to clear out the cobwebs and get your brain going. It's simple, fun and can be quite revealing! 

Essentially, next word is a game of association. You get a list of words, and you have to name the very first thing that comes to mind for each of the five words. If you are feeling particularly ambitious, make a story or poem with your five new words.

writercize: Write the next word you associate with each of the following words:

• arrow
• post
• bridge
• scales
• shadow

Some like to explain their association, particularly if it is a little off the wall. Others prefer to leave it up to interpretation. Either way is fine by me. Have fun!

(If you like the game and want more, just type "next word" in the search this blog field to your right.)

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response and a fishing dialogue between dad and son based on my next word answers.

Pulling a Komen - writercize #160

Most everyone who follows the news, health care, nonprofits and civil liberties knows that the nonprofit Susan G. Komen foundation elected to cut funding to Planned Parenthood this week. Komen is best known for their pink ribbon and walk for the cure to raise money for breast cancer research and awareness.

Citing the excuse that Planned Parenthood is currently under investigation (for allegedly using federal money to pay for abortions, an investigation spurred by social conservatives) and Komen wants their donors to know that money will be used towards breast exams rather than lawyers, Komen pulled the plug on funding. The catch is, the money was already earmarked for use towards breast exams and cancer treatment, so Planned Parenthood could not have used the money elsewhere, nor did they ever plan to.

The decision to withdraw funding caused a huge angry backlash across media, social networking and women's groups and several threatened to stop donating to Komen. Reportedly, at least one top Komen executive resigned over the issue, but due to privacy agreements with Komen the reason can not be confirmed.

So, mere days after the announcement to suspend funding, Komen pulled a 180 and announced today that they will give Planned Parenthood after all.

Did they not realize the firestorm they would raise prior to the first announcement? They had to have known this would be a controversial decision, and taken that into account. Yet, they are now backpedaling and wishing for a time machine that would drop them off before the whole mess.

The problem is, the proverbial cat is now out of the bag. Anti-abortion activists who donated this week after Planned Parenthood funding was cut feel cheated, and pro-choice activists are left asking why they should trust Komen's flip flop rather than donate money directly to the screeners and examiners themselves. Komen has now succssfully alienated both sides of the spectrum and confused the middle ground. The country is left wondering how in the world Komen's PR department is going to save the nonprofit from any deeper trauma as the nonprofit case study of the year unravels.

All of this makes a writer who loves playing with words quite happy to coin a new phrase, pulling a Komen. To pull a Komen means to hastily retract a business decision in the face of public fury. It will now be part of my personal vernacular, and particularly applicable in knowingly controversial or political decisions.

I would love to see what phrases you writercizers can come up with, using the names of businesses, celebrities or otherwise notable people.

writercize: Take a name of a notable business, celebrity or person who is associated with either a famous mistake or good deed and place it in a descriptive phrase. Include the definition (and a sample sentence if you dare!).

Please leave your phrase here as a comment - I would love to see what you creative writercizers come up with!

Click "read more" for two writercizer sample responses: to pull a Komen and to be Gored.

Name that Group - writercize #158

I am sort of addicted to working for free. I write considerably more often than I earn money for writing, I volunteer as an usher and religious ed instructor at my Unitarian Universalist church, I signed on as a volunteer usher for a community theater group, I just offered to help put together the yearbook for my daughters' preschool this year, and I am the President of our local "twins club," the Beach Cities Parents of Multiples Association. I do not complain about any of these activities; I love every one of them and I really like to be actively involved in my community, but I must admit I have this odd relationship with money. I like to have it, naturally, but it appears it somehow spoils the experience of giving for me. I thrive off the connections and feeling of service and a far more driven by doing something to serve my community than a paycheck.

These days I get to stay home with my young children, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be home and see then grow and foster my relationship with them. I cherish it because I know they will not be small forever and because I know that I have decades of career opportunities ahead of me when the time is right. However, I am not able to dedicate myself to staying home with them without also dedicating myself to the organizations that are important to me. In this way I hope to show them responsibility and the importance if community, and that true value is tied to what a person can give rather than what a person can earn.

So what does all this have to do with today's writercize? Remarkably little, as the post ended up quite tangential, but let me steer you back to the original concept. It all relates loosely to a writercize idea that stemmed from watching the SAG Awards and listening to the announcement that if members approve a merger, the group will be named SAG-AFTRA. Quite the mouthful.

The two parenting groups that I an involved in are called the Beach Cities Parents of Multiples Association and the Hip Mamas. The church preschoolers' class I teach is called the Pixies. Several of the twin groups around the country have cutesy names like Terrific Twosomes or Double Blessings, Act Two Moms, Gemini Crickets. When our club was founded 20 years ago, it seems they went practical over creative in the name, which certainly serves its purpose. I think a club name says a lot about the club's approach to policies and how it serves its members, so I want to name a few groups with you.

writercize: Create a name for each of the following clubs:

• bowling team
• professional networking association
• actors troupe
• mommy group
• writing critique group

Leave your reply as a comment. This should be an easy writercize for some quick word play to loosen the verbal dam in your mind!

Click read more for writercizer sample response.

Word Shower - writercize #155

This writing prompt will literally make you want to sing out, "It's raining words!"

Well, maybe not quite, but it should shake a little brainstorm loose at the very least. I was inspired to post this exercise after a very rainy day in LA yesterday. It may not rain often here, but when it rains the skies open up and the water pours out of the sky. So, feeling the effects of the weather, I want you to take a word snd throw out a laundry list of word associations to go along with it. These could be adjectives, adverbs, associated memories, related nouns, whatever you see fit.

writercize: Pick one of the atmospheric words below, and write a list of 10-20 words or short phrases that you associate with the given word. When your list is complete, use a few of the to write a poem, short story or descriptive sentence.

• cloud
• rainbow
• flood
• sprinkle
• sunny

The word associations do not need to be weather related, and references to homophones okay. I'd love to see what you came up with!

Share your result as a comment below, or if you post it to your blog please share the link!

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response - 20 words and a brief paragraph based on the prompt "flood."

26 Words - writercize #152

In honor of my guest post over at the April 2012 A to Z Challenge website today, which is, in my opinion, one of the greatest community experiences to hit the blogging world, I have the alphabet on my mind.

A few months ago, I invited readers to create a list of words A through Z within the theme of emotions, weather or colors, which was good for word play and expanding vocabulary, but tonight I have a slightly different challenge for you using the 26 letters of the alphabet, one in which you will use the letters to create a story that makes sense.

writercize: Write a 26 word glimpse of a story or poem in which each word begins with a different letter if the alphabet, in alphabetical order, from A through Z. 

Feel free to use the dictionary, thesaurus, foreign languages and an occasional Seussical invented word to assist you.

Leave your attempt as a comment, or link to your blog so I can see it!

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response about crocodiles and fairies.

Next Word Five Words Mash-Up - writercize #142

Time for a twist on the next word game. For those of you unfamiliar with next word, it's a fun little word association game where I give you five random words and you write down your instinctual "next word" - the first word that comes to mind.  It's great to see how different minds can come up with vastly different thoughts out of the same word.

example - If I give you the word "grass," you might say green, or fed, or smoke, or picnic, or cow, or hula ... all can be traced back.  You could also think of something more obscure, like "kiss" or "love" if you had your first kiss in a field.  Some explain the connection, and others leave the back story blank.

Next word is a game I like to play every month or so.  As Tara Tyler, one very talented writercizer, once commented, "i love these! you should give us a state of mental health reading from them =)"

For the twist tonight, read on to the writercize below.

writercize: Look at the list of words below and type your instinctual response to each word. Feel free to simply state the next word or evaluate your response.

• word
• tape
• train
• small
• pack

Now for the real twist ... if you're up for the challenge ... create a short story or poem using your five new words. You do not need to reference any of the original words, but you should include all five new words.

As always, leave your writercize attempt as a comment, or link to your blog if you post it there. I love to see what you come up with!

Click "read more" to read writercizer sample response about wolves.

Spin It - writercize #140

A euphemism is a way to spin a negative into a ... slightly less negative.  It doesn't necessarily make it positive, thought it can sound deceitful pleasant, but at the very least it brings a bad thing around to something less harsh.  It paints as rosy a picture as possible.

Euphemisms basically boil down to public relations.  Useful in maneuvering tricky relationships, breaking bad news and winning in politics.  Euphemisms can also be quite useful in parenting.

Examples: 

"to pass away" = to die

"in a happier place" = dead

"to let go" = to fire

"to intervene" = to drop bombs and engage in warfare

writercize: Create your own, never before seen, euphemism for one of the following:

• death
• divorce
• job loss
• foreclosure

Write it out, then use in a sentence.

Essentially, I challenge you to make what could be a depressing post into something that sounds calm and lovely.  Go on - euphemize away!  (Yes, "euphemize" is a made up word.)

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response.

Santa Claus, Movies and the Economy - writercize #138

I was playing around with trying to work song or movie titles into a holiday card note last week, but the muses just were not cooperating with me, so I moved onto a holiday card plan B and I'll purge the song or movie title idea with a writercize instead.

This could be a bit of a stretch, but work with me here.  Sometimes journalists play with words in the opening paragraph of a story or in the title.  Arguments over a power plant are a "power struggle."  Eco-friendly development is given the "green" light to construct.  At times the creativity pays off, and other times it's a bust, but ... finding a creative way to spin the news can be good to get the juices flowing. 

For today's writercize, work a well-known song or movie title or two into that offbeat leading paragraph.  You can use a real current event for inspiration, or write the lead with a journalistic style for an imaginary event.

writercize:  Using the title of a holiday movie or song, write a lead paragraph of a news item referencing a current event.

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response where the economy and unemployment rates meet Scrooge and Santa Claus.  (Like I said, bear with me! It all makes sense in the end!)

Vanity Plates - writercize #130

It's Tuesday night, which quite often calls for ... a little fun and easy word play. 

Tonight I'm thinking about vanity plates.  You know: those clever license plates that are much more inventive than the random mix of numbers and letters assigned by your state's Department of Motor Vehicles.  A standard plate may read BZT 792.  A vanity plate could read DR LOVE for a fertility doctor or SCRMOM for a suburban soccer mom.

Growing up in Oregon, very few people liked to draw attention to themselves with vanity plates, so I always chuckled at those cars, finding them frivolous and a bit silly.  Bumper stickers were much more in vogue to make a statement.  In Oregon, the older the car, the more it spoke.  Thirty year old VW bugs were definitely the thing to have, especially if the license plate was at least fifteen years old with no frills.  Yellow background, blue letters and number.

Fast forward a few years past college, I found myself living in Virginia, where it seemed everyone and their dog had a vanity plate.  In fact, per wikipedia, Virgina has the highest concentration of vanity plates at a whopping 16.19%.  That's nearly one in five plates.  Lots of people who want to make a statement.  I still wasn't willing to make the jump into the land of vanity plates, but I can tell you it made waiting at lights much more interesting, imagining the secret lives of all those around me, based on their choice of vanity plate.

Tonight, you will have the chance to create five vanity plates of your very own.  You are limited to a max of 7 characters per plate.

writercize:  Create a vanity plate (max 7 characters, numbers, letters and symbols ok) for each of the following professions:

• postman
• teacher
• wrestler
• actor
• construction worker

Leave your result as a comment, or link to your website if you post on your site.  I'd love to see what you come up with!

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response.

Colorful Emotion - writercize #125

As promised, a reverse to Emotional Color, writercize #122, from last week!  Same intro as last time, slightly altered writercize.  Have fun and thanks to last week's responders!

I'm not sure of the reason or the origin, nor am I sure if we mirror other languages and societies in this aspect, but in the English language we seem to have an affinity for linking colors with emotion.  

"Green with envy."  "Feeling blue" as a euphemism for depression or sadness.  "Seeing red" to convey rage.  There is something about color that pairs nicely with an emotional image.

In a different spin on my next word game, I'm going to give you colors and I want you to give me an emotion for each. 

writercize:  For each of the five colors listed below, tell me the first emotion it brings to mind. 

• gold
• crimson
• violet
• neon orange
• vanilla

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response.  Leave your own as a comment or provide a link back to your blog!

Emotional Color - writercize #122

I'm not sure of the reason or the origin, nor am I sure if we mirror other languages and societies in this aspect, but in the English language we seem to have an affinity for linking colors with emotion.  

"Green with envy."  "Feeling blue" as a euphemism for depression or sadness.  "Seeing red" to convey rage.  There is something about color that pairs nicely with an emotional image.

In a different spin on my next word game, I'm going to give you emotions and I want you to give me a color.  Next week we'll try reversing it.

writercize:  For each of the five emotions listed below, tell me the first color it brings to mind.

• bored
• surprised
• serene
• afraid
• jealous

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response.  Leave your own as a comment or provide a link back to your blog! 

Next Word - writercize #118

Next Word is a game that I bring back to writercize about once a month or so.  It's a really simple word association game - I give you five words and for each you give me the first word that comes to mind.  It's as easy as word play can get, but the fascinating thing about it is seeing how differently all of us process words and thoughts!  

writercize:  Write the first word that comes to mind for each of the following words.

• pen
• glue
• rumble
• stunt
• relief

Leave your response as a comment - if you care to explain the relationship between your words please do!  It's always nice to see the back story.

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response.