HALLOWEEN 2016

It's time for a Halloween Writing Prompt

As per my usual, this is an image selected to give the most tantalizing inspiration.

This image is inspiring to me and I hope it is for you as well.  Here is what I wrote.
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She hung on his every word.  Watching him in the candle light as he recounted the tale of the ghostly form that haunted the old house they lived in.  Never once was she afraid as he spoke, until the end of the story when there was a sudden thump from overhead.

“What was that?” she whispered.

“That? Oh, never mind about that.”  Her father said calmly. 

Meanwhile, she started to shiver a bit and wrapped her arms around her body.  

"Now, you're not scared are you?  There's nothing to fear.  It's just a story and I doubt if it's even true." He said trying to calm her.  But, she was not calm.  Something inside her now knew the truth.  

Leaving her in the shadowy room, her father walked to the kitchen.  Alone now, her imagination took a hold of her.  She began to believe in the story her father told. 

In bed that evening, she lay in the dark, listening to the quiet.  Every noise, no matter how low, no matter how insignificant, fed her imagination. Pictures of unknown evil invaded her mind, voices rang in her head, smells and sounds now confronted her reality.  

A voice spoke.  Was it real? Was it in her mind?  She couldn't tell.  

"Come to me child." The voice called.  It sounded distant and weak.

"Come and find me."  It said, stronger now.

As though in a trance, she rose from her bed and dressed.  Outside, the night air was warm and humid against her bare skin.  The full moon lit up the landscape and glowed in the few leaves still clinging to bare branches. 

She walked.  Barely aware of her surroundings, she walked.  With no understanding of what she was doing, she walked.  Her eyes were open, but saw nothing. 

"I'm here!" The voice cried.

"You have found me!"

She stopped.  She stopped and stood.  She stood  waiting, waiting for someone, something.  There in the moonlight, staring straight ahead, without moving, she stood.

Her only sensation was the cold she felt as the shiver went up and down her spine and the night drew close around her. 

In the morning, her father called her down for breakfast.  He received no answer.  She would never answer him again.

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Despite being pretty busy with non-writing things right now, I do still find enjoyment in writing practice.  Lately, I've been writing stories about my childhood.  These little snippets of stories are fun to put together and are good practice for writing stories about other members of my family.  

Perhaps I'll share some of these with you in the near future. 

So what would you write if inspired by the above image?  I'd love to share your writing.  Please leave a comment.

Happy Halloween!

First Day of Fall Birthday Writing Prompt

So, the convergence of things today makes it extra special for me.  It's the uncommon occasion when my birthday is on the First Day of Fall.  I woke to a wonderful breakfast with my daughter and we watched a special episode of a favorite show together before I left for work.  Then I decided to write something and found this writing prompt picture online.  Below is my short piece inspired by these two young fishermen.

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“Aww do I have to get up?!” moaned Dave as he hunkered further under his covers.  Only the glow of the digital clock illuminated the room. 

“Yes!” Jason implored as he shook Dave’s shoulder.  “It’s Mom’s birthday and we’re making dinner, remember?!”  Jason stood back as Dave finally peeked out from the covers voluntarily.

“This is the best time to fish. If we wait, they’ll all have swum away.  Now get up!”  Turning on his heel, Jason left the room.

Dave swung his feet over the side of his bed and reached for his pants.  Pulling them on he stood up and fastened them.  Wrestling a shirt over his head, he finished dressing by the backdoor where Jason stood waiting, tapping his foot. 

Down at the river, the sun was barely a glow on the horizon when they threw in their lines.  Now they wait.  And wait they did.  It seemed like forever ‘til one of them got a bite. 

“It’s as if they know how important this is and they’re not going to bite!” Dave exclaimed painfully.  “Why does this always happen?!”

“Just relax.  They’ll bite.”  Jason said calmly as he moved his line a bit.

And who got the first bite as the sun was now fully over the horizon? Dave.  He felt a great yank that jerked him forward.  “Wow, this is a big one!”

Jason dropped his line and reached out to grab Dave’s.  They both tugged and Dave started to reel in the big fish.  They both gasped as the fish jumped fully out of the water.  The sun glistened on its scales as it arched and dove back in, wriggling and pulling.

Excited, Jason grabbed their net and took a step into the cold water.  Dave pulled a few more times and cranked the reel. 

With one fell swoop, Jason caught the fish in the net, “Woohoo!” he hollered!

“We did it! No, you did it!  This’ll feed half the town!”  Jason yelled.

Dave stood there, awestruck.  He’d never caught anything that size before.  All he could do was stand and stare, savoring the moment.  Jason pulled out his camera and took a picture of Dave.  Then he tossed the camera at Dave.

“Hey, get a picture of this.” 

The camera almost fell, but Dave caught it on the way down.  Shaking off his reverie, Dave aimed the lens at Jason and snapped a couple, then put the camera in his pocket.

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I hope you like this little ditty.  I've never fished before and that's kind of why I selected this picture as a prompt.  If you're inspired and write something out, please share it.  

Happy Fall!  Here's another lovely picture for your enjoyment or to use as another prompt.

Writing Again

I've been terribly lax in my writing of late and I apologize for that, mostly to myself.  My writing is largely for myself and I share in the hopes that it will inspire or bring some small measure of enjoyment to others.

In order to spark some degree of creation from my sore and overused brain, I looked up some new writing prompt ideas on the internet.  I found that the blog Creative-Writing-Now.com has some terrific ideas and ways of thinking about a piece which inspired me.

One of the many ideas I gleaned from my rummaging on this blog included different forms for a poem, such as instructions, a recipe and a letter.  The most intriguing of these for me was a recipe.  My brain immediately began scanning for non-food things in my life that could be the subject of a recipe.  My psyche landed on my grandmothers hands.  

This was a natural choice since my grandmother was, and still is, a big influence on me.  Although she passed away about 15 year ago, I still remember many little things about her that made me feel good and loved.  Her hands always fascinated me.  They were never still, always creating something wonderful or doing something helpful.

Here is my recipe for Bang's Hands (the story of her name shall be for another post)
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Bang’s Hands 

By Kimberly L. McClune 

September 12, 2016 

Ingredients:                                             

Heap of Kindness                  

Accumulation of Gentleness              

Plenty of Industry                   

Hours of Play 

Oodles of Comfort 

Abundance of Calm 

Measure of Healing 

Bundle of Love 

  

Directions: 

Blend the kindness and gentleness until warm. 

Stir in the industry until well learned. 

Skim play off the top for hours of fun. 

Mix in comfort to bring a smile 

Fold in the calm until steady. 

Knead in the healing and 

Garnish with Love.
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While this image is generic, it reminds me of my grandmothers hands, riddled with arthritis, as she reached out for mine.  She often took my arm while we walked and I can still feel her grip and smell her perfume.  Writing this small piece churns up an ocean of memories and images that I will gladly rifle through in an odd moment.  

What recipe could you write as a poem?  Or perhaps, you prefer to write a letter or instructions.  I strongly suggest going to Creative Writing Now and looking under IDEAS for a plethora of poem and story prompts.

I'm hoping that this recent jaunt into creativity will spur me on to more and more poems and even a story or two.  Keep writing and leave a comment, I'd like to hear from you.

Back in the Swing in Spring

It's been a terribly long time since I've had the inclination or inspiration or time to put pen to page or fingers to the keyboard for the creation of a new poem, story or other creative writing endeavor.  

Recently, I was inspired by my westward morning drive from Arvada to Louisville.  The Spring in Colorado, along the Front Range, can create a beautiful tableau for one's viewing pleasure.  A particular morning a few weeks ago was spectacular, simple and inspiration for me.

Below is my final poem that will, hopefully, provide an insight into my experience that day.

Daily Masterpiece

By Kimberly L. McClune

May 26, 2016

Springs morning, a blank canvas on the western horizon,

Emerges from the night

Revealing Nature’s daily masterpiece.

Crystal clear blue water color tints the sky

Virtually transparent,

Polished and perfect, like a sapphire.

Clean white paper, cut

As if by a child with scissors

Pasted with sticky fingers,

Creates a rim of bleached peaks.

Dirt, leaves, rocks and sticks

Mixed in a puddle

Tossed by the handful,

Make layers of mottled, hills against the paper.

This, Nature’s daily masterpiece,

Frameless and unaffected by man,

The freedom of creation.

Writing this poem reminded of how much I like a good writing prompt to inspire me to write, even if what I write turns out to be junk.  After all, don't we learn more from making mistakes?

So here's a good prompt to put a spring in your pen:

This image gives me the creeps a bit and also pulls a few good story ideas out of my lazy brain.  For instance, is this the Invisible Man's girlfriend or sister? Take a gander at this and see what ideas you come up with.  Perhaps try setting a timer and seeing what you can come up with in 15 minutes. Or share this with a friend and challenge each other to come up with a 200 word story about this image.  Another good idea is to see how many genres of writing you can use to create different written pieces about this image, a poem, a short story, a caption, a slogan for an advertisement, or even the outline for a novel.

So, keep writing.  Maybe write something from this picture prompt and make a comment to let me know what you came up with.

Have a great day!

Writing Prompts ~ 3 ~

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then shouldn't we be writing those words down somewhere?  Every time I see a beautiful scene or picture of just about anything, my mind wanders.  A story forms or I become inspired to write about it or describe it. 

Writing prompts can be a way to trigger or inspire words from anyone, most especially writers.  It's a great way to practice or even try a different style of writing.  I like to use prompts to help me get started on stories.

When my daughter was very small, she would get a story before bed.  Most of these were made up and most were inspired by an idea or character that she would ask for.  Some things she'd ask me to tell a story about include, a particular Disney Princess, the board game Candy Land, and Strawberry Shortcake (from the children's cartoon show).  

Many of my poems have been inspired by images, nature, or pictures.  Others have been inspired by a person or a particular trait of someone I know, like my grandmothers laugh.  

I have been very lax in writing poetry lately because I was working on writing stories about my uncle who passed away recently. As my thoughts wandered to all the memories lurking in my brain and heart about my uncle, I decided that the best way for me to mourn him was to write them down.

The stories about my uncle are on my Wattpad account in a new work called "Choose to Smile."  Here's an excerpt:

CHOOSE TO SMILE

Every year, around Easter, my family would drive out to visit them. My brother Keith, my Grandma Bang, and one parent would go along with either me or my sister (we had to take turns).

New Hampshire was like a dream when I got to go. On my very first trip I slept in the spare room all by myself. That first morning I remember waking to strange noises outside my window. The sound was rustly and crunchy and huffy. I lay in bed listening for a while until my imagination and curiosity could not be held back another minute. I climbed up to look out and saw three horses wandering around outside my window. They were nibbling at the ground and pushing at each other. They huffed out their noses as though the air was too cold. Finally they sauntered out toward the street.

I knocked shyly at my uncle's bedroom door and said, in an almost unheard voice, "There's horses outside my window. Can I go see 'em?"

All I heard was excited voices from behind the door. In a flash, my Uncle and Aunt were both bolting out the front door in coats and boots.

"Louise, what's happening, honey?" My Dad asked in the dark hallway.

"Daddy, there are three horses outside! Can I go see 'em?" I asked sweetly.

The next thing I knew, my Dad was running toward the door with boots and a coat too. Apparently, the horses weren't supposed to be walking around outside the house.

HALLOWEEN WRITING PROMPT
So, writing prompts can come from anywhere and your response to them can take many forms.  As usual, I'd like to present another picture writing prompt.  

I hope this isn't too scary for you, but it is the Halloween season, after all.

How does this image inspire you?  Write 150 words story or 3-4 stanza poem from this image.  Hopefully you will post this in the comments below and share with me and others.  

Here is my offering from this image:

She’s finally left, thought the evil presence behind the wall.  Slithering toward the mirror, tap, tap, thud, thud, harder and harder it knocked on the wall.  One small crack was all it needed to penetrate the other side and escape.  First the wall, then the mirror gave way to the insistent efforts.

An icy chill emanated from the fractured hole with razor sharp edges.  Slowly, the image of evil appeared from behind the wall.  Staring out from an abyss of darkness, the grayish creature had a visage of resentment and hatred. 

Noises came from outside the room. 

Now’s my chance, thought the entity, slinking back into darkness.

Bursting into the room, a tall, thin and lovely woman dressed in a flowing organdy gown covered in lace and pearls fairly floated toward the mirror, humming.  Seeing nothing amiss, she placed a vase of flowers directly beneath it on a table.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

That was fun to do.  I hope you like my interpretation.  Please keep writing.  Use prompts if needed to keep you going.  Also, please share your writing prompt offerings in the comments so others may enjoy them.

Keep Calm 

and 

Keep Writing

Time to Write

I’ve definitely been struggling to have/make time to write lately, whether it’s writing for this blog or just for me.  If you too have this problem, hopefully some of my ideas will inspire you.

Have/Make Time

Because everyone’s lives are different, there are no magic tricks I can provide to give you the time you may want or need to write.  I can only tell you that, if it’s important enough to you, you will have the time

Write First Thing

Writing first thing requires coffee for me.  If I have that, then I can grab paper and pen or my laptop to get started.  I do like to be inspired, even for a blog, but sometimes I just write whatever’s on my mind, like journaling.  The mere act of writing is an exercise in putting words to paper. 

If you’re not a morning person, like me, find a time when you’re alone and can concentrate, perhaps after the kids are in bed.  Grab a cup of tea and off you go!

 

Writing Prompt/ Write with Someone

Writing from a prompt is a good exercise because it can take you outside your comfort zone.  It can also just be fun.  Spontaneously, and for fun, my daughter and I write a jingle to replace a really bad one from a commercial we just watched. 

Usually I write with my daughter.  At times, I help her with ideas for her stories or edit them.  We also work on our own projects at the same time.  We make writing dates with each other, like every Thursday night. 

If you have a friend who writes, whether local or long distance, make a date to meet up, face-to-face or on line, to write together.  Each of you can come up with a writing prompt then make a date to share your results.  I have an out of town friend with whom I do timed writing prompts.  During a phone conversation we set a theme or idea then call each other back in ‘x’ minutes to share what we did. 

Write on Break

Whether you work in or outside your home, breaks are a time when we move away from our work tasks and relax.  Writing should be relaxing, at least I think so.  Move to a comfy spot with your writing materials, or go get a snack or drink, then open up to a new page and get started.  Maybe you just want to write some thoughts, maybe you’re working on a story or novel, or maybe you want to write a poem.  Make sure to watch your time or set a reminder on your phone so you aren’t late returning to work.

I hope you got some ideas from me and can find a way that works for you.  Remember, to be a good writer, you have to practice writing.  TTFN, Ta-ta for now!

Writing Prompts ~2~

In this post, I’ll be giving you some ideas for writing prompts, as well as sources for finding them.  Perhaps, I’ll even give you an example of one or two of mine. 

As I’ve discussed in previous posts, the best way to get better at something is to keep doing it.  Practice, like with an instrument or a sport, will help you to get better.  Getting better and seeing improvement in your own ability is one of the best ways to be inspired, at least for me, to keep working at it. 

Writing Prompts are a great way to challenge yourself to try new things, new themes, new styles and new genres of writing.  I find they can help to bring me out of a slump too.  There are many different types of prompts. 

 

If you’re a story writer, a good source for writing prompts could be the newspaper.  Review the headlines to find a situation or story that interests you and, without reading the newspaper’s article, write your own article or story.  Or, you could buy books that have prompts like, The Writer’s Book of Matches or 1001 Prompts to Ignite Your Fiction.  I found out about this from Writer’s Digest

online.  You can find it on Amazon or at a local bookstore.

On the website Creative Writing Now, www.creative-writing-now.com, you will find hundreds of ideas for writing poetry, as well as tips and advice, and a bevy of other helpful things that writers like to poke around and read. 

You could chose to write about an image or painting or other visual stimuli you encounter or peruse in the course of your day.  You can also simply search for images of a certain thing, situation, feeling or word on your favorite internet search engine, like Google.  I searched ‘images for peace’ and got a load of “Peace Sign” images and doves holding olive branches and people holding hands, etc. 

Here’s a writing prompt with a visual for you to contemplate and write a poem for.  It can be any type of poem in any form, just use this prompt as your inspiration.  Try giving yourself a time limit for your piece.

                                                       The sun is rising.

Here's what I threw together in 10 minutes based on this image and these words.

Misty sunlight scrunches my eyes.

Still water slides past my weighty and sluggish strokes

As the long night turns to new day.

Faded, the world drifts past.

Molten gold swallows my oar as it pushes on

While daylight unfolds before me.

I would love to know what you come up with from this prompt.  It would also be great to hear from you about where you get ideas for poems and what inspires you. 

Keep writing and watch how much you improve with the practice.  

Other online sources for prompts:

http://www.writingforward.com/category/writing-prompts/poetry-prompts

http://www.pw.org/writing-prompts-exercises

Writing Prompts

Haven't made a post in a while and I'm sorry.  Being unemployed is taking it's toll, along with other factors in my life.  Some are things I can control.  Many are things I can't control and must take time to deal with.

One continual joy in my life is the monthly Writers Circle at my local library.  The group grows and changes, yet is always full of talented, enjoyable people.  A frequent activity for us is to do a writing exercise, often with a prompt of some kind.  This month, we are writing from a picture, prior to our meeting, and then presenting our creations to each other.

After staring at this picture for long moments, and mulling it over, I came up with what follows.  The inspiration was two fold for me.  I was first inspired by the feeling I was infused with by the photo. The second was the personal connection that feeling brought forth.  Here is the result.  I hope you find something personal here, that it is touching and not saddening.

Lonely Beach

By Kimberly L. McClune

September 7, 2013

Looking out across the gleaming waters                                    

Eyes squinting, hearts pinching                                      

We walked together and yet separate.

Neither the rush of waves nor the glaring sun

Could penetrate our joint solitude.

The cry of a distant gull hung in the air

Unanswered

Just like the longing so ardent in our souls.

Would we ever?

No

Never.

Holding tears behind our eyes

Unwilling to show the pain

Unable to share the depth of feeling

We strode along the water’s edge.

The actual writing prompt was to write a paragraph or poem based on the photo.  I didn't really care which I wrote, I simply wrote what came to me.  In fact, my first scribblings were almost the makings of a paragraph, but I found that what came of this exercise wasn't a little story, rather, it was expressing the emotion that this photo inspired inside me.  My feelings often come in the form of a poem rather than stories.

You may find the same thing as you write, that emotions are expressed in a certain form and that anecdotes and experiences take another.  Perhaps they take the same form for you.  Regardless, I find that I miss writing very much and look forward to making much more time for it in the coming weeks.  I believe that you cannot become accomplished at anything unless you DO IT, and do it a lot.

Writing prompts are a good way to practice your craft.  You can find ideas on the internet with simple searches or challenge yourself or a friend.  You could select a photo, make up a title, or choose a subject for a simple paragraph or four stanza poem.  These exercises can become the basis for a new piece or just stay as an exercise.  Your writing is just that, YOURS!  No one else should tell you exactly what words to write or you are no longer the writer.  

Well, I've to get back to writing, etc.  Take care and enjoy the day.