Congratulations to all of the A to Z Challenge participants this year! It was a real treat to visit your blogs and get to know you. Nice to reconnect with "old" bloggers and meet several newbies!
I have a couple of posts to fill in towards the end of the alphabet, but overall it was a great month of blogging here at writercize. :)
Thank you to Arlee Bird for including me on your team and again, congrats to all of the wonderful bloggers who kept up your posts and shared your voice this month!!
exercises to inspire word play, hone the craft of the written word and bulldoze writer's block for authors, bloggers, poets, freelancers, teachers, students, dreamers and writers of all kind
4.22.2013
Save the Earth - writercize #AtoZChallenge 3.19
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: It's Earth Day!
writercize: It's Earth Day!
Create a public service announcment, children's story with a moral, song or poem about what we can do to help our beautiful planet.
Earth Day is always a favorite inspiration here at writercize. Could be my Pacific Northwest roots, my childhood love of literally hugging every tree on walks around the block or just my feeling of responsibility for my children and the seventh generation.
For previous Earth Day writercizes, visit writercize 32 and writercize 185 185.
Click "read more" for writercizer sample response - a tale based on a true event from my childhood.
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 - a tale based on a true event from my childhood.
4.20.2013
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:
(Today's words come from Creativity Games' random word generator.)
Click "read more" for writercizer sample response.
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.
4.19.2013
Quickly, Quickly - writercize #AtoZChallenge 3.17
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: Set a timer for two minutes and free write as quickly as you can. No punctuation, grammar, rules, story.
This is a great way to free the mind and release your brain to prepare for a day of writing or business ... or to wind down after a long day and transition back into home life.
Click "read more" for writercizer sample response.
writercize: Set a timer for two minutes and free write as quickly as you can. No punctuation, grammar, rules, story.
This is a great way to free the mind and release your brain to prepare for a day of writing or business ... or to wind down after a long day and transition back into home life.
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.
4.18.2013
Pause & Prayer - writercize #AtoZChallenge 3.16
I planned to write about portmanteaus for the letter P, as I wander from A through Z this month in what I've dubbed the blogger's marathon. 26 letters in 26 days.
I had the title of the post all set, a writercize and sample ready to go.
But, somehow, it just feels more appropriate to take pause and offer a prayer for what happened at the real Boston marathon on Monday.
I lived in Boston as a young adult after college. I met my husband in Boston, and made some very close friends. I do not personally know anyone who was injured. The incident is distant enough that I have not been directly affected, but close enough that I do have a few friends who are seeking prayers for their immediate friends and family members. Two who lost limbs. Two others in the hospital with shards and burns. The world is small. Out of approximately 200 people who were hurt, I am connected within one person to at least four of them. I live in Los Angeles now, about as far as one can get from Boston and still live within the continental United States, but I am reminded how small and interconnected this web of life is.
Please, join me to pause in a brief moment of prayer and reflection for the lives lost and changed by this event.
If you care to share your thoughts and prayers, please, feel free to do so in the comments below.
In peace.
I had the title of the post all set, a writercize and sample ready to go.
But, somehow, it just feels more appropriate to take pause and offer a prayer for what happened at the real Boston marathon on Monday.
I lived in Boston as a young adult after college. I met my husband in Boston, and made some very close friends. I do not personally know anyone who was injured. The incident is distant enough that I have not been directly affected, but close enough that I do have a few friends who are seeking prayers for their immediate friends and family members. Two who lost limbs. Two others in the hospital with shards and burns. The world is small. Out of approximately 200 people who were hurt, I am connected within one person to at least four of them. I live in Los Angeles now, about as far as one can get from Boston and still live within the continental United States, but I am reminded how small and interconnected this web of life is.
Please, join me to pause in a brief moment of prayer and reflection for the lives lost and changed by this event.
 |
| Boston skyline - courtesy www.morguefile.com - free photo sharing |
If you care to share your thoughts and prayers, please, feel free to do so in the comments below.
In peace.
4.17.2013
Opening - writercize #AtoZChallenge 3.15
Hello writercizers! More than half-way through A to Z now. How's it going? Are you meeting lots of great new bloggers and filling your blog with some good content in the meantime?
Today, I am doing a rerun of a previous guest post by Brianna R. - all about opening sentences. Good luck, and enjoy! ~Alana
Good morning, Writercizers! Are you ready to work out those writing muscles?
Today, I am doing a rerun of a previous guest post by Brianna R. - all about opening sentences. Good luck, and enjoy! ~Alana
Good morning, Writercizers! Are you ready to work out those writing muscles?
Wait, I can’t hear you…
Alright! That’s the spirit! Let’s get moving!
First let’s stretch a bit – crack your knuckles, wiggle those fingers and take a few deep breaths! Now we’re ready to begin.
As
writers we all know how important the first sentence of our story is.
It’s the hook that’s either going to capture the attention of editors
and readers or bore them to tears. No pressure, right?
Not if we are regularly working out our writing muscles! Here’s an exercise focusing on writing strong first sentences:
writercize: Read the back-cover blurb of a book and then write an opening sentence.
The
beauty of this exercise is that not only does it allow you to practice
writing an attention-grabbing opening sentence; it could also be a
stepping stone to an original book of your own!
You are free to use whatever back-cover book blurb you like or use the three samples from the genres of science fiction, mystery and romance below. Write a first sentence for all three, or just one, and share it in the comments section.
Science Fiction
On
the North Pole of Pluto there stands an enigma: a huge circle of
standing blocks of ice, built on the pattern of Earth’s Stonehenge –but
ten times the size, standing alone at the farthest reach of the Solar
System. What is it? Who came there to build it?
The
secret lies, perhaps, in the chaotic decades of the Martian Revolution,
in the lost memories of those who have lived for centuries.
~Icehenge by Kim Stanley Robinson, 1984, ISBN 0-312-86609-7~
Mystery
Not
much happens in Contrary, West Virginia –a sleepy town with failing
coal mines, a few old moonshine stills, and an urgent need for revenue. A
federal grant for a nonexistent bus system seemed just the ticket…if
only the government auditor, sent to look things over, hadn’t drunk to
much white lightening. And ended up dead.
Now
his successor, Owen Allison, has come down from D.C. to check out the
situation. Disgruntled with his life inside the Beltway, Owen is willing
to give Contrary’s officials the benefit of the doubt –and himself some
time to romance Mary Beth, the alluring town controller. He soon feels
like seventeen different kinds of fool. Because something has long been
fermenting in Contrary besides corn mash. Another body has been found.
And Owen may be next…unless he uncovers the big secrets hidden in the
hearts of a small Appalachian town.
~The Contrary Blues by John Billheimer, 1998, ISBN 0-440-23504-9~
Romance
Innocence
was the only word to describe Mary Frances Murphy. Expelled from a
convent, her only sin was desire: For intimacy. For experience. For true
carnal knowledge. Once forbidden, these things were now within her
reach –as she searched for her sister’s killer in a world of staged
seduction, virtual passion, and fantasy made flesh. But Mary Frances had
never even been touched by a man…let alone a man like Webb Calderon. A
man whose erotic finesse was as vast –and dangerous—as his empire. A man
who could devour her innocence…and kill her with pleasure.
~ Innocence by Suzanne Forster, 1997 ISBN 0-425-15663-X~
Click "read more" for Brianna's sample response:
4.16.2013
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.
Click "read more" for writercizer sample response.
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
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)