Come up with one sentence—ANY sentence. Focus on that. Pull out one work or phrase, and create the second sentence using this. Repeat this, always focused on one sentence only. (Review full instructions in the January 1 newsletter.)
If writers want ideas on possible directions for development, add such a note when you post! And others can comment to that.
Otherwise, for feedback, comment on words that seem particularly right or useful or to standout.
Thanks for the new years prompt Alison! I'm 8 weeks out from the birth of my daughter and nap trapped often, this was a fun, low stakes way to pull out a few sentences.
It's healthy to practice being nothing. Being nothing beside and within but not outside. Nothing beside the version within the outside ruminations running deep. Outside ruminations running deep alongside not beside, yet beside the outside version and within.
Beautiful! And I love the word ‘nap-trapped’, my sister is frequently ‘Nap-trapped Nana’ ...hmmm, thanks may be in order for I just might have a birthday poem for Nana brewing...SPARK!
I enjoyed working with this prompt. I love the idea of burrowing, of looking back while moving forward, like a miner tunneling towards some unknown treasure, just out of sight. It was hard for me to know when to stop. It's only when I brought the word 'change' back into the sentence that I felt the piece was complete.
"132"
Suppose you do change your life this year. Your life can be a stone dropped into a body of water, causing ripples after the dive toward gravity. Stone beats scissors which in turn beats paper. You take a turn for the better and in turning over the page you make a book of your life. You make books out of thin air as trees escape the forest of your mouth, your teeth blossoming into words your tongue is able to carry. Your tongue carries more than the weight of swallowed words. Words echo and return as something else worth remembering in dreams. Something else causes a ripple in your sleep and before you wake up to a new day, a new you, a new life, you forget your life has already changed.
Ah... that sense of a good door clicking (open or closed?) when you arrive at the end. (Or final piece of a spherical puzzle is how I feel it for picturebooks or poems.)
Both of these posted pieces beg to be read aloud. Thank you for posting!
It's useful both when blocked altogether, and when working with a particular piece--as a way to explore, to circle around wherever you're at in the work, to find a way through, too.
I'm appreciating the work that's being posted here!
Elizabeth, I so like how you let this go--you didn't get caught up in the prompt and its possible boundaries. You used it, along with your current work, to get it OUT. Key. Do what you need to do.
The Good Ship Retirement! Yes. A real sense of joy, freedom (trust! fancy!) ... and the honouring of both in your work. Thank you for posting!
I've read this both yesterday and today. I do like a re-read!
This is fun--what you have done with the prompt. Moving us--unexpectedly--to 'flowers.' There's a opening-up there, for me, a similar sensation to that of having my morning coffee--a wake-up!
Thanks for the new years prompt Alison! I'm 8 weeks out from the birth of my daughter and nap trapped often, this was a fun, low stakes way to pull out a few sentences.
It's healthy to practice being nothing. Being nothing beside and within but not outside. Nothing beside the version within the outside ruminations running deep. Outside ruminations running deep alongside not beside, yet beside the outside version and within.
Nap-trapped--yes. So good to see you pop up here, Tara.
There's a lovely contemplative sense here, with the repetition--thank you for posting!
Beautiful! And I love the word ‘nap-trapped’, my sister is frequently ‘Nap-trapped Nana’ ...hmmm, thanks may be in order for I just might have a birthday poem for Nana brewing...SPARK!
I enjoyed working with this prompt. I love the idea of burrowing, of looking back while moving forward, like a miner tunneling towards some unknown treasure, just out of sight. It was hard for me to know when to stop. It's only when I brought the word 'change' back into the sentence that I felt the piece was complete.
"132"
Suppose you do change your life this year. Your life can be a stone dropped into a body of water, causing ripples after the dive toward gravity. Stone beats scissors which in turn beats paper. You take a turn for the better and in turning over the page you make a book of your life. You make books out of thin air as trees escape the forest of your mouth, your teeth blossoming into words your tongue is able to carry. Your tongue carries more than the weight of swallowed words. Words echo and return as something else worth remembering in dreams. Something else causes a ripple in your sleep and before you wake up to a new day, a new you, a new life, you forget your life has already changed.
Ah... that sense of a good door clicking (open or closed?) when you arrive at the end. (Or final piece of a spherical puzzle is how I feel it for picturebooks or poems.)
Both of these posted pieces beg to be read aloud. Thank you for posting!
Love this!!!
Lovely…full circle and flowing read.
It's a great prompt. Nice technique!
It's useful both when blocked altogether, and when working with a particular piece--as a way to explore, to circle around wherever you're at in the work, to find a way through, too.
I'm appreciating the work that's being posted here!
I loved this prompt!!! Results of my focus on “burrow” - hijacked, somewhat, by what has been brewing:
The Good Ship Retirement
In my burrow of winter rest,
I study and do as I please
Cultivate, play, learn from the best
Trust in my muse, build expertise
Share with abandon, at my ease.
Winter’s for writing, here I’ll be
Dream I sail on a lazy sea
safe in my den, cozy and warm
Under my blanket, safe, I’m free
In this whimsical life of charm.
I sail my small craft on a sea of rhyme
Whether winds will play calm or may bluster
My final third act, brings my chance, my time
Wind my workaday life up, with lustre.
Muse waxes wild like wind, I must trust, her
Fancy will carry me home at the end:
Grasp main sheet, my pen, like life may depend
With discipline, drive, and devil-may-care
Speak boldly my truth, for Goddess, forfend,
I write without courage, or fail to share.
Elizabeth, I so like how you let this go--you didn't get caught up in the prompt and its possible boundaries. You used it, along with your current work, to get it OUT. Key. Do what you need to do.
The Good Ship Retirement! Yes. A real sense of joy, freedom (trust! fancy!) ... and the honouring of both in your work. Thank you for posting!
Lol I also have trouble strictly following a recipe...many thanks. Prompts that send me on a tangent are just as welcome!
How to make coffee
-take 1/2 a cup of dark-roasted coffee beans
-place the beans into a grinder
-turn the grinder on to a fine setting
-grind until all pieces are fine
-scoop all the coffee into a French press
-pour water into the French press
-press the water down through the coffee
-drain the coffee into a cup
-don’t put the coffee grounds down the drain
-mix the coffee grounds in a pot with dirt
-grow flowers in the dirt
Shirley Silva
* using French press as one word
I've read this both yesterday and today. I do like a re-read!
This is fun--what you have done with the prompt. Moving us--unexpectedly--to 'flowers.' There's a opening-up there, for me, a similar sensation to that of having my morning coffee--a wake-up!
Thank you for posting!