Friday Writings #37: Stay Happy and Alive

Greetings, dear poets and storytellers. I hope you and your muse are feeling well, and in the mood for creative words. My creative juices have been a bit s l u g g i s h… So, I decided to read quotes on creativity, which I’ve been collecting for a while. A quote by our own dsnake1’s, in response to a poem about doing and thinking something fresh stayed with me. He said, “I think, to stay creative, is to stay happy and alive.” For today’s optional prompt, I invite you to create poetry or prose inspired by dsnake1’s words.

photo by Tim Mossholder, on Unsplash

As usual, if this prompt isn’t for you, please share a piece of your choosing. Let it be new or old, fiction or nonfiction, short or longish (prose pieces should be 369 words or fewer). Share the direct link to your post. One link per participant. After you add your words, visit other writers, delight in their creations, and let them know what the product of their creativity does for you.

next week, Rommy will invite you to let your muses spend some quality time with the phrase “to burn”. What comes up for you when you read those words?

Weekly Scribblings #9: Contagion

If you have access to any kind of news, I’m almost sure that the word “contagion” doesn’t fill your heart with the warmest of feelings. I mean, what’s warm about cruise ships being denied entry to ports because of fear of coronavirus infection, or about schools and hospitals having to close because of similar reasons? And let’s not even start talking about the economy because there might be screaming and hair pulling and worse.

It seems that the idea of contagion has a direct connection to our panic button. And I think that’s a good thing in our current situation. A healthy dose of fear might keep us cautious enough to be mindful of simple behaviors, which go a long way towards prevention—handwashing, avoiding crowded areas if we can, and figuring out the proper ways to contact our local infectious disease centers (instead of taking the virus to a crowded hospital) if we feel the symptoms.

You know what else can keep a mind from losing itself in a time of crisis? Creativity, and community, and ink-infused hope. So, dearest poets and storytellers, for our 9^th Weekly Scribblings, I invite us to write new poetry or prose inspired by the idea of “Contagion”—social contagion, or metaphorical contagion, or biological contagion... Let your words spread positivity, or caution, or whatever you prefer... the choice is yours. If you go for prose, your entry should be 369 words or fewer.

Please feed the direct link to your contribution to Mr. Linky. He will stay hungry for contagion-inspired prose and poetry until next Wednesday. After you link your offer, do visit other word lovers (community—especially a healthy one—can’t exist, if we don’t commune with each other).

Let us be kind. Stay safe. And be the better kind of human.