When I don’t know what to write, writing prompts and challenges are my go-to writer’s block busters. The one I’ve tackled most recently is the Sweet Seven presented by author Hannah Deurloo, and if you like writing for children, give her challenge a shot! Here’s what I love about them:
1. Writing Prompts are Short
Like a handful of blueberries (as opposed to a meal), writing prompts are low commitment and energy-packed. They don’t take long to write, and that’s a big deal. When I feel stuck, I want to get moving again fast. A prompt can get me from A to B in a paragraph. Boom.
2. You’ve Got Room to Grow
Whether the challenge is a paragraph, page, flash fiction, or short story, you can always make it longer if you want to. I love the creative freedom this brings. I once did a 24-hour challenge with a friend, and the story that came from it was cooler than I anticipated. Maybe one day it will be a novel, but for today, it’s something started with room to grow.
3. Hello, Focus
If a river is blocked, the water disperses. The same kind of thing happens (at least to me) with writer’s block. Instead of cutting a clear path, my thoughts can begin to go all over the place. A prompt gives me a problem to solve. Navigating the waters becomes the focus again, and I’m back on course.
4. Gain a New Perspective
Writers can be great builders, but when we always use the same materials, the work gets mundane. If you use a book, an online challenge, or even make up your own writing prompt with a friend, it forces you to try something out of your box. And that, my friends, helps to get those inventive wheels turning again.
You can do it! What challenge will you conquer today?
Until next time,
Invent your story
It’s harvest time, and apples are everywhere! They bring us wonderful things: pie, donuts, cider, the law of gravity… at least, Isaac Newton and apples did. Isaac was born in 1642. When he was 24, he saw an apple fall from a tree (legend says it hit him on the head). This event set the wheels in motion for him to consider the pull between objects of different masses and of “gravity extending to the orb of the moon.”
I feel like I could get pretty creative with apples. I could turn them into smiley faces or make a good sauce out of them. Isaac shows us something revolutionary with apples, and I wonder if we could learn about more than gravity from him.
If I have been able to see further, it is only because I stood on the shoulders of giants. – Isaac Newton
The thing that stood out to me in this story, and considering his famed quote, is this: he was intentional. He may have had dessert in mind when he visited the apple tree, but he was also a student of nature and those who went before him. He was on the lookout for answers.
You don’t have to be a scientist to be inventive in your thinking. But to move forward in your area of creative expertise, you will be able to see farther if you “stand on the shoulders” of the “giants” in your field. If you’re interested in writing, read the work of great writers. If you’re interested in science, read the work of great scientists.
But don’t stop there.
As you go about your day, let yourself see the world through your lens. No one else thinks exactly like you, and no one else can bring the exact same thing to the table that you can. Even two apple pies will be made with different apples that carry a slightly unique flavor. Here’s to the unexpected moments that change the world.
Until next time,
Invent your story
The coolest thing happened this week. I got a comment. It wasn’t a, “Hey, I like what you’re doing!” kind of comment – although I appreciate all feedback. It was a, “I get criticized for my out-of-the-box thinking, and your words really encouraged me…” kind of comment.
Not a public comment. Not a “two thumbs up” from a well-known critic that’s going to make my career. It wasn’t a call from an agent. It was a person who was facing a challenge, and my words encouraged them.
Wow.
You know what, writers? It’s worth it. For that alone, it’s worth it. Yes, writing takes hours, days, weeks, and years. Yes, you may never make a dime from it. It may take a very, very long time (if you’re like me) and you are going to face a zillion challenges in every form imaginable.
For that one person, it’s worth it.
People say to write for yourself, and I don’t argue that. Putting those thoughts, words, and ideas onto paper is fulfilling, and if you’re only writing for others, you may lose yourself in the process. Write like you. Write for you. Just write. It’s good.
But with billions of people on the planet, there’s a good chance someone out there will benefit from what you have to say. From honesty. From your brand of crazy – because we all have our own brand of crazy.
My goal, this week, is to let one of the people who’ve encouraged me know that they’ve made a difference in my life. I’m part of someone’s “target audience” too – and I’m easily part of the “audience” of the person whose comment had an impact on me. Friends, we need each other, and that is a gift.
Until next time,
Invent your story
If you’re looking for more encouragement, check out Chocolates and Writing Advice. Happy Friday!
Whether you’re a novice or seasoned writer, exploring a new genre is a smart thing to do. If you like picture books, horror stories, poetry, or romance novels you’re in great company, but stepping outside of your comfort zone has some great benefits. There’s a whole world of options waiting for you!
Stretch Your Creative Muscles
I have a (rather pathetic) two years of middle school basketball experience under my belt. Our team was really good! I was not. But when we trained, we didn’t just play basketball. We ran for miles to build endurance. We did speed drills. We jumped rope.
Jumping rope didn’t make me an excellent jump-roper, but it made me lighter of my feet to catch a rebound. Speed drills didn’t make me a sprinter, but I got to the end of the court fast. You get the point. Reading Skippyjon Jones may not make you a children’s book author, but it will make you laugh – and humor is a powerful component in writing.
As a writer, exploring different genres can help you discover talents and interests you didn’t know you had. You’ll also learn something new that you can take into your own work! I’ve always loved poetry, and kidlit. Well, this weekend I picked up a thriller just to shake things up.
New Genres Create New Opportunities
If you want to try something new and don’t know where to start, flash fiction is a fun area to jump in. There’s a lot of opportunities to compete and share your work! I highly recommend WOW – Women On Writing for the ladies out there. The genre is up to you! You won’t know where the road goes until you start to walk down it. Or jump rope down it. Or sprint.
Until next time,
Invent your story
How long has it been since your last adventure? I’m not talking about reading a book or using your imagination today. I mean the lapse of time since you last slipped on the shoes you don’t usually wear, walked to a place you don’t usually go, and tried something you’ve never tried before.
Writers are stereotyped for a reason. We can get really stuck in our heads. I don’t think we avoid adventures on purpose – I think sometimes we forget we’re not having them because we imagine a new escapade every day.
Experts say reading and writing each day will improve your skills, and it’s true. But if you’re reading, writing, and looking at your work with disgust every day, then doing the work isn’t your problem.
The problem could be you need to live a little bit.
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. – Henry David Thoreau
This is one of Thoreau’s most famous quotes. The beautiful thing is he wasn’t just making up pretty words: he lived it. He went into the woods and deliberately lived. Your adventure doesn’t have to be as intense as Henry’s, but be deliberate.
Awhile ago, I had some free time that I could have spent writing, but I went downtown Grand Rapids instead. I put away my old sneakers for fancier shoes (that gave me blisters to remember them by) and strolled along the sunny streets. The city was full of history, busyness, mystery, and untold stories. I may or may not have forgotten where I parked at one point.
From the monument celebrating Rosa Parks to the curious Bull’s Head overhang, Grand Rapids was a beautiful place to deliberately live for an afternoon. When you step outside today, take in the air, the rain, and the mayhem. Let yourself be inspired.
Until next time,
Invent your story
Refreshingly honest. Dedicated to the writing craft. A talented, down-to-earth author, meet our guest post writer: Amos Dyer. Amos reveals where bone and marrow meet in his writing today. I follow Amos’s blog, and you can benefit from his insights at amosdyerauthor@blogspot.com. Amos writes:
There are two things you will require before going any further: Perseverance and Resilience.
If we are to believe what Mark Twain once said, “There is no such thing as a new idea” then why write at all? When we put Twain’s words into the perspective of an entire world of stories – hundreds of cultures spanning hundreds of years – it’s easy to accept the idea that maybe our story has been told before.
This is a question (doubt demon, writing gremlin, plot-line obstacle, etc.) that I suspect everyone who has ever dreamt of becoming a writer has asked themselves at some point along their journey. But, as with every protagonist we write, we must persevere through this conflict. I personally take comfort in the understanding that while my story may not be new, it is still unique; because the way I tell the story is different from the way anyone else would tell it. If this perspective works for you as well that’s great; or you have a talisman of your own that wards off this doubt that works, that’s great as well. Either way, persevere and write your story, because it only gets worse from here.
Since there are no new ideas – I can imagine some agent or editor, holding the fate of our writing future (some call this a manuscript) in their hands. And, as they gauge the worthiness of our work, I can also imagine at least one of them has a print of the old adage “Don’t reinvent the wheel” pinned to their cubical wall. It serves as a reminder to always watch out for the unimaginative spin on the tale that has been told a thousand times. It is the same concept that drives them to keep a template rejection letter on their desktop, to which they can quickly copy and paste your name into and send off. Why create a whole new document? Why reinvent the wheel? To which I respond: If someone didn’t reinvent the wheel at some point, we would still have wagon wheels on racecars.
Rejection is another obstacle we face. Whether active, in the form of rejection letters, or passive in the form of no response at all; it is an obstacle which perseverance alone is not enough to overcome. We must be resilient. We must face of this adversary and accept the truth that while our story may not be new, it might still be relevant to the world today. This resilience takes form every time we resubmit our work to a new agent and every time we start a new manuscript.
Sure, we might be reinventing the wheel. Yes, we might be telling the same old story. But through perseverance and resilience, we might just tell it in a better way