Friday, March 17, 2023

Friday Writings #68: Light as a Feather

Hello, word artists and admirers! The winds are kicking up hard around the Philly suburbs, like they do every March. I’m noticing a lot of things getting moved around by the breezes—last year’s leaves, stray feathers, snippets for story ideas. OK that last one is just happening in my head, but I’ve come up with several fun ideas I’d like to play around with while going for a walk on a blustery day.


So today for those who would like to work with a prompt, I’m suggesting “as light as a feather.” What comes to mind when you hear that phrase? Write about or anything else that tickles your fancy and it with us. I’m taking both poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction. Just be sure to keep your pieces to 369 words or fewer and one entry per person please.

Next week, Rosemary will invite us to write about “darkness and light.”


Friday, March 10, 2023

Friday Writings #67: “love letters to wild flowers”

Every now and again, a sentence from a story or a line from a poem finds a home in the inside of my skull. It stays there… conjuring images and crafting thoughts. That’s how I felt, when I read “Write love letters to wild flowers”, a line from a poem Marja shared a few weeks ago. I’m curious to read how the line touches your ink. 

So, my dear poets and storytellers, for today’s optional prompt, I invite you to create poetry or prose inspired by Marja’s words: “Write love letters to wild flowers”.

As always, if the prompt doesn’t speak to you, share a piece that does. Let it be new or old, fiction or nonfiction, short or longish (369 words or fewer). Add the direct link to your post. One link per participant, please. Visit other writers. And let them know what their ink does for your thoughts.

next week, Rommy will ask us to write about what comes to mind when we hear the phrase “light as a feather”.


photo by Sixteen Miles Out, on Unsplash

Friday, March 3, 2023

Friday Writings #66: In the Face of Disaster

 


Hello again, dear Wordsmiths.

Time to get serious!

My brother lives in Auckland, New Zealand, where lately there have been bad floods and nearby a devastating cyclone. He suffered only a wrecked front fence himself, but plenty of other people fared much worse. He is angry now because he thinks world leaders are not making enough connection between such disasters and climate change, not doing enough to address that.


Where I live, recent nights of heavy rain felt scary no matter how I rationalised, because of the two severe floods we had a year ago, and the one before that in 2017 – and I was far from the only person to feel that way. 


But what can we do in the face of these disasters – we, the people not in positions of political power, not enjoying the huge wealth which also bestows power, all too aware of the problem and also aware that it’s going to take more to fix than we can do as individuals?


Is there something we can do collectively? Could the individual efforts even add up to enough after all? Is time running out or is it on our side? Can writing do anything at all to help?


Well, at the very least, writing can relieve our feelings. And maybe writing to our politicians might sway them in the right direction, or writing for the public might wake up some more people or inspire them to further action.


Be that as it may, what would you write in the face of disaster? What will you write? It’s your prompt for this week, if you choose to use it. 


Otherwise feel free to write about anything else at all … after all, it may be that everything we write now is ‘in the face of disaster’ anyway, as we experience these dramatic climate events all over the world.  And then there are wars, and viruses....


Or are you experiencing some even more personal disaster? I hope not! But if so, letting off steam might help.


Not meaning to be a doom-and-gloom merchant, folks. Perhaps what one can write in the face of disaster is something cheerful and/or hopeful, to make us all feel less despairing. Perhaps we can write about some of the good things that are being done to help in dire world situations.


One post per person, please; verse or prose, new or old; 369 words maximum. Please read and comment on other people’s posts – and if you’d care to talk to us in the comments here below, that would be lovely.


Next week, Magaly will invite us to create poetry or prose inspired by a line from our own Marja: “Write love letters to wild flowers”.





This image, by Colin Lloyd from Unsplash, reminds me of the state of some of our local roads after our floods – several still not repaired a year later, because there was just so much devastation to address.




Friday, February 24, 2023

Friday Writings #65: It’s Been a Long Time Coming

Hello, Word Artists and Admirers! My dog Kit has come a long way since New Year’s Eve. In those early days we were told to prepare for the worst. Although it may be a while—if ever—before Kit can walk outside to do his business on his own power, he now gets up and down on his own to walk a few feet a couple of times a day (usually to go toward someone who has unfinished food on their plate). And he will definitely walk a few steps to look out the door and bark at other dogs going by.


For those of you who'd like a prompt, this week I'd like you to shape your words around the phrase, "it's been a long time coming." I'm taking poetry and prose, fiction or non-fiction. Just please remember to keep your creations to 369 words or fewer and only one entry per person.

Next week, Rosemary will invite us to write something which completes the phrase, ‘In the face of disaster…’

Friday, February 17, 2023

Friday Writings #64: Life Is Stranger (and often sneakier) Than Fiction


Greetings, poets and storytellers. How is life treating you? I hope you’ve been enjoying some gentleness, since everyone I know can use a bit
(or a lot) of that these days.

I’ve almost recovered from the last procedure that kept me slightly MIA the last couple of weeks—stitches are gone, my flesh isn’t hurting too much, my gut is behaving herself (yes, my gut is female and eternally irritated), and I have been writing (maybe plotting and outlining is more accurate) something new. The process is going slow, but it’s going; and I’m grateful for that. Still, if anyone would’ve told me a decade ago that my health would ever take so much of my time, I would’ve probably laughed and told them to stop telling tales.  

The last bit is what inspired today’s optional prompt. You see, I’ve been decluttering. And while I was going through some old papers, I found a letter I wrote to myself in 2013. In the letter, I asked myself not to be too hard on me about finishing a half marathon a few minutes over the average time for my age group. I was upset because my time increased nearly 8 minutes from my last run. Well, I read that old letter and burst into laughter. These days, I’m thrilled when I can run for 45 minutes on my trampoline without my legs trying to turn into balloons and my joints screaming bloody murder.

I’ve lost a breast, my hair, some teeth, my joints are a mess, my digestive system is nuts, and I’m so freaking grateful to be alive to fight another day. When I shared the last bit with someone who hasn’t known me for long, the person told me that no one would ever believe it… which brings me to today’s optional prompt. I invite us to write poetry or prose inspired by the following Neil Gaiman quote: Life is always going to be stranger than fiction, because fiction has to be convincing, and life doesn’t.”

next week, our dearest Rommy will invite us to write what comes to mind when we see the phrase, “it’s been a long time coming.”  


photo by Bruce Warrington, on Unsplash