Weekly Writing Prompt — February 4, 2015

February 4, 2015Weekly Writing Promptadmin

Writers:

Winter has mere weeks before it passes. Huzzah!

During that time, there’s still good inside time to kickstart our writing life into gear. Today’s prompt is about looking at our own personal creative cycle. Do you know when you are most creative? First thing in the morning? At lunch? In the middle of the night? You need to maybe do some morning pages and explore what your most creative time looks like. Personally, I’m best first thing in the morning, especially around the full moon. But, I also can be productive when just left at it, too. When is your time. Should you guard that time? Of course you should guard that time. You should set yourself up so that your most productive creative time is set aside and held sacred. Yes, I said sacred. We all know this to be true. Life does get in the way. I’ve gotten away from that, having gone through some severe family crises lately. Life will do that to you. The important thing is to get back to holding that creative time sacred. For you it could be a writing cafe time — I tend to hold Friday mornings as sacred as anything else and head to The Black Dog. Does life get in the way sometimes? Yes. But, I keep putting it on my calendar and blocking it out. Therefore, more times than not, I’m there, doing my thing — writing, networking, working through being stuck.

This is a great time of year to figure out where the busyness of life, the interruptions, the not as important things have crept into your sacred writing time. Figure it out, and fix it. Before the sun is beckoning us to come out and play.

Don’t forget, Peer Review Workshop on Feb. 21 at 10:30 a.m. Bring your pitch for your novel for roundtable discussion and critique.

And now your moment of Writing Zen:

“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” ~William Penn

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What did you Write today?
~Casz

Casondra Brewster
Moderator/Founder
Sno Valley Writes!
Helping Writers Reach New Literary Peaks Since 2008
http://www.snovalleywrites.org
Check us out on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SnoValleyWrites

“But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” ~ Lord Byron

Weekly Writing Prompt — January 28, 2015 Edition

January 28, 2015Weekly Writing Promptenough, good, moving forward, pitch, writing lifeadmin

Good morning, Writers:

There are times when I sit down to do this that I am unsure of how else to encourage, support, mentor, and motivate you to do what I know you want to do, what you should do — your story matters — and keep things interesting along the way. We’ve been at this collectively for more than six years. Clearly there’s more work to do — each and every day.

Each and every day brings me to our focus today. I think in conversations with many of you over the last couple of weeks, and I am guilty of this myself, that we have to feel each night when we rest our heads that there should have been MORE work done in our writing life. There should have been hours and hours of editing, instead of the quick lunch-time session we had. There should have been 5,000 words written instead of 500. We should have read for an hour instead of the 20 minutes before bed.

Stop it.

More and Great are the enemy of Enough and Good.

Did you work on your writing today? If you can say, yes, then you are good. You did enough. We all have struggles with the responsibilities in our lives that impede on our writing life. But, if you worked on it, if you’ve continued to make it a focus, even if twice this past week it took a back seat and you only got so much done — don’t sweat it. It’s kind of like falling off your diet. You get back on and keep moving forward.

Therefore, your prompt today is to know that each and every minute you spend is good. Feeling good about that will lead to more minutes, trust me. Before you know it, you’ll have that revision done. You’ll have that pitch done. You’ll have that short story sent out.

You’ll be moving forward. That’s enough. That’s good.

Speaking of moving forward and doing pitches, the February 21st workshop is all about the KindleScout (the replacement for ABNA). Things kick off at 10:30 a.m. at the North Bend Library’s meeting room. There are a few phrases every writer hates to hear. “It’s just not quite right for us,” definitely tops the list. However, second place winner is probably, “Tell us about your novel in 300 words,” otherwise known as a pitch. Condensing hundreds of hours of labor of love into mere paragraphs designed to make an agent or publisher realize what brilliance is being offered to them is enough to make any writer cry, on the spot, in public. The Feb. 21 workshop aims to take a little pain out of the process. You’ll be breaking down and rebuilding a proper monument to the pitch. Bring your first, or four hundredth, attempt at a pitch for the novel you are looking to shop to an agent, publish, or submit to this year’s KindleScout (ABNA’s cancellation was announced on Jan. 19th). We will round-robin them into book-selling shape.

Hope to see you all there.

Now your moment of Writing Zen:

“Everyone has a story that makes me stronger. I know that the work I do is important and I enjoy it, but it is nice to hear the feedback of what we do to inspire others.” ~Richard Simmons

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What did you Write today?
~Casz

“But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” ~ Lord Byron

Weekly Writing Prompt — Jan. 21, 2015 Edition

January 21, 2015Weekly Writing Promptadmin

Greetings Writers:

Today I want to remind you about snap writing — about carrying a small notebook and pen with you wherever you go to write at any moment you can.Waiting at the bus stop? Riding the bus? Stuck in the doctor’s office? In between meetings? On a lunch break? The answer is writing — snap writing. Doesn’t matter if it’s for two minutes or twenty. Just get it down. Try a poem. Keep working on your novel. Write a flash fiction short story. Anything. Everything. In a snap you could have 100 words. Those moments of snap quickly add up to 1,000 words.

What snap writing could you do today? Get that notebook and pen ready!

Also, need an artist’s date or literary field trip? One of our own is having an event: Rachel Barnard’s audiobook for At One’s Beast just went live and she’s going to have a party to celebrate! It will be January 22nd (also her birthday) from 6 to 8 PM at St. James Espresso in Kirkland. For more details: https://www.facebook.com/events/719396628129454

This is a more open party as she will also be celebrating her 25th birthday and her love of reading and cake. She invites you all to join her.

Now get writing! But, first your moment of Writing Zen:

“The impatient idealist says: ‘Give me a place to stand and I shall move the earth.’ But such a place does not exist. We all have to stand on the earth itself and go with her at her pace.” ~ Chinua Achebe

—
What did you Write today?
~Casz

“But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” ~ Lord Byron

Weekly Writing Prompt — January 7, 2015 Edition

January 7, 2015Weekly Writing Promptadmin

Happy New Year Writers!

And brilliant sunshine for those of us in the land of Twin Peaks.

Happy Birthday to our member, Takako Wright, too.

There is lots coming up in January, so tune up your calendars:

Workshop on January 17 at 10:30 a.m. until noon. Come prepared to share writing, to read, and provide feedback. This will be a peer-lead workshop. Bring at least three copies of your work to get three perspectives. Bring a poem, a short story, a chapter. Anything that can be handled within the timeframe of this workshop.

I was telling you all about the Storyteller Circle last month and it was really inspirational and fun! So, I hope you will join us again this month. Because of the holidays the scheduling of the workshop has jumped an extra week and will be on Jan. 17th (It’s typically the second week of the month). It’s in the afternoon at the North Bend visitors’ center and art gallery (right by Bartells). We start talking story at 3 p.m. If you play an instrument, feel free to bring that as well. Musical story is appreciated as well. Join the event via Facebook if you like, too. Make this your weekly artist’s date if you like.

Speaking of artist’s dates…that’s the prompt this week. Is to look at the month of January and make sure you have an artist date lined up each week for yourself. They are an investment in your creative life and, in my opinion, an exercise in self-care. So what are your artist’s dates this month?

One last administrative note, please continue to share with me your successes so I can share with the group, post on our web site, etc. I’d like to share that on January 3rd I got notification that my first serious essay piece was accepted for publication. As soon as the ink is dry on the contract, I’ll be able to share more with you. Please share your successes with all of us as well.

And now your moment of Writing Zen:

“Happiness quite unshared can scarcely be called happiness; it has no taste.”
― Charlotte Brontë

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What did you Write today?
~Casz

“But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” ~ Lord Byron

Special Announcement regarding 2015

December 21, 2014Announcement2015, 2016, announcement, sabbaticaladmin

Happy Winter Solstice my dear writing buddies and friends,

As the wheel of the year turns, I wanted to share this with you, this Solstice Sentiment:

Nature remembers what humans have forgotten: Every cycle must return to stillness, silence, dark

Every out breath requires an in-breath; Every outward endeavor turns back inward to its origins, to its center, and begins again

From death comes new life, and from the darkest night, the new dawn is born.

This sentiment is appropriate to what I’m going to tell you about 2015 for SnoValley Writes!, for my own Write Life.

In 2015 I am embarking on some new and exciting journeys.

Firstly, I have a couple of short stories that are going to be traditionally published.

Next, I’ve decided that I will take the dive, like so many of you, and self-publish one of my novels. For awhile I thought that for me to dip into self-publishing would be to admit defeat. I wanted to traditionally publish first before self-publishing. That was my personal goal – and is in no way a slam on anyone else’s chosen path. I admire anyone for being so brave to do that. But, the world has now taught me my initial desires might be a bit backwards. I’m fueled, as always, by so many of my fellow authors’ success, that I’ve decided to take this step forward in my writing career. It’s time for me to kill my fear, and be brave as well. It does not mean that traditional publishing is off the desk for me. I still have WHEN A RAVEN PECKS OUT YOUR NORMAL to finish and give to the interested publisher.

Also, the other activity I’ll be channeling energies into is that I’m going to be working with veteran organizations and teaching writing as healing. I’m very, very blessed to have such a calling and will certainly keep you all abreast of this new endeavor. I had hoped that I could announce a defined plan for this, but as I’m working with others, I have to wait until they are ready for me to announce.

My freelance life is going to be moving to more and more book doctoring and fiction editing – as was my goal when I left the corporate world in 2011. I’m very excited by such work and it fuels my own writing passions.

With these new undertakings, and the increased demand on my time as a special-needs parent, the latter of which many of you are so acutely aware, it is necessary that I take a bit of sabbatical from other things. Before you look in horror that I’m leaving all of you, rest assured that SnoValley Writes! is not going away. I simply will be taking a break from doing workshops for SnoValley Writes! As I said, it’s a sabbatical. The writing cafes will continue. The weekly emails will continue. But our workshops are on hiatus. Much like a professorial sabbatical, this will only be a year. My hope is that things will balance out come 2016, we will reconvene anew. Now, however, if someone else or a group of some ones wants to take on the workshops, the library is still offering us space. You just would have to decide by the first of the year.**

Regardless, I will not be heading those workshops. So many of you have gone beyond what I can teach you. I rest solid in the knowledge, as so many of you have expressed to me, which you wouldn’t be there without my mentorship and my encouragement. This is always why anyone teaches, yes? Therefore, it’s necessary that I turn inward – as the Solstice Sentiment detailed – and catch up to many of you, and come back with many new things to teach you come 2016.

You will see me in 2015 at the neophyte storyteller’s circle, and I’ll continue to bring you information on those via our weekly emails. I’ll also be encouraging attendance at literary field trips, readings, book launches, and other art-centered events.

I’ll still be here, it’s just going to look different for 2015.

Happy Yule, my friends. And a successful and happy 2015 to all of you.

**The group that attended our gathering this morning decided to keep the workshop time and will make it a more informal gathering, to bring work in to read and trade and to receive feedback and more detailed critiques. Who knows, maybe there will be more workshop-style stuff, too! So the 3rd Saturday of every month from 10:30 a.m. to Noon at the North Bend Library meeting room — the writers will still meet and help and encourage everyone to move forward in your writing. More information on that to appear in our weekly emails.

—
What did you Write today?
~Casz

Casondra Brewster
Moderator/Founder
Sno Valley Writes!
Helping Writers Reach New Literary Peaks Since 2008
http://www.snovalleywrites.org
Check us out on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SnoValleyWrites

“But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” ~ Lord Byron

Weekly Writing Prompt — December 17, 2014 Edition

December 17, 2014Weekly Writing Promptadmin

Blessed Holidays to you and yours, Writers!

Today’s prompt is simply to please plan to attend (hey! shopping can wait until after! 😉 our holiday potluck gathering / white elephant book trade on Saturday, at 10:30 a.m. at the North Bend Library. Bring a wrapped book to trade for our white elephant, bring a dish to share (nothing fancy, writers will eat anything and the library wants to keep down the “enticing” smells).

I have an announcement I need to share with all of you, and I’d like to do it face-to-face. 🙂

Please let me know if you definitively will attend, so I can make sure to have enough sundries on hand for all of you dear Sno Valley Writes! supporters.

Be advised that there will not be a weekly prompt until after the new year. Spend time with your projects and your friends and families.

See you Saturday!

And now for your moment of Writing Zen!

“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.”

Robert Frost

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What did you Write today?
~Casz

“But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” ~ Lord Byron

Weekly Writing Prompt — November 19, 2014

November 19, 2014Weekly Writing Promptadmin

Writers:

The wind is blowing and hopefully for many of you the writing is flowing. (Look, I took a page from Takako’s and Linda’s book!)

The writing is not flowing for me, as far as NaNo goes; but, I am forgiving myself as my freelance load right now is quite heavy. Also, there is much editing going on. In essence I’m doing an editing NaNo.

It was a great workshop on Saturday and I’m grateful to all those who came. I sent a note out earlier about our Holiday Potluck on December 22. Special and important announcement on that day, so I hope many of you can make it.

Your prompt today is to think on the word wind (either meaning) and put it into whatever you’re writing. Hopefully it generates a theme, a new scene, a new poem — anything creative.

Now your moment of Writing Zen:

“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” ~Henry Ford

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What did you Write today?
~Casz

“But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” ~ Lord Byron

Weekly Writing Prompt — Nov. 12, 2014 Edition

November 12, 2014Weekly Writing Promptcreativity, forgiveness, Prompt, write lifeadmin

Writers:

In my morning pages today I was not happy with myself and the amount of writing I’m doing. It’s Wednesday and besides my freelance work, which requires much writing, sure; but, it’s not MY writing. I’m behind in NaNoWriMo goals. I have too many manuscripts that need varying levels of polishing. Then I have to remind myself that it’s a process. Creating is a process. It’s also cyclic. One day you’ll love what you write — I was giggling my butt off silly on Sunday writing, so pleased with what I wrote. Today, I’m frustrated with how much I’m getting done. Yet, I carry on. I keep trudging. Snap writing here. Editing there. It will get done. I can’t be a superhero about it. It’s unrealistic. That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t push, I shouldn’t focus my energies and efforts.

That brings me to today’s prompt. You need to forgive yourself your creative missteps. Have something published you wish you could take back? Not satisfied with how often you write? Giving yourself the side-eye because your manuscript is not published? Are you beating yourself up because you haven’t sent out any queries?

Forgive yourself.

Then get back on that writing habit and rectify things. May we all live so long that our early work is an embarrassment to us. Find the hurdle that’s eating into your writing time and overcome it. Send out that query. Even more boldly decide you’re going to author publish.

Don’t forget our workshop is this week on Saturday, Nov. 15th, at the North Bend Library at 10:30 a.m.. I’ll have an abbreviated workshop so that the last 1/2 hour can be dedicated to writing. This month’s topic is on where to send your work. Please RSVP so I know to plan appropriately, especially this week as there will be handouts.

Now your moment of writing Zen:

“Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.” ~Muhammed Ali.

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What did you Write today?
~Casz

“But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” ~ Lord Byron

Weekly Writing Prompt — November 5, 2014 Edition

November 5, 2014Weekly Writing Promptadmin

Remember, Remember the 5th of November…

If you’re working on NaNoWriMo your word count at the end of today should be: 8,335 words.

If you’re not there, don’t feel sad. I’m behind, too, but I’m still plucking at it.

Today’s prompt, which can easily be put into a NaNo is to write at least 1,667 words on a memory. Things remembered. It could be your personal stuff; it could be from a character’s viewpoint. You decide. Be creative. You can make it prose or poetry, or a little rhyme like the Guy Fox poem, if you like. Memories are motivation oftentimes in stories. So what memory motivates your life today, or your character’s life? Write. Write like mad and don’t stop until The end.

And now your moment of Writing Zen:

I try to create sympathy for my characters, then turn the monsters loose.
– Stephen King

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What did you Write today?
~Casz

“But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” ~ Lord Byron

Weekly Writing Prompt — Oct. 29, 2014 Edition

October 29, 2014Weekly Writing Promptadmin

All:

You got two days to decide.

Are you In? Or are you Out?

National Novel Writing Month is upon us and it’s the best exercise to prove so much to yourself. In the end you’re a winner with a completed manuscript in hand. Okay, it’s a rough draft, but still. The support you get for your writing muse this month is incredible and I highly encourage you to participate.

So, click this link: http://www.nanowrimo.org

Sign up. Join the Snoqualmie Valley region. Make friends (be sure to include me in your friend’s list: heroprotagonist, as well as your municipal liaisons: Quinleeeee and Tam Borgia).

Get info. Go to the kick-off. Go to write-ins. Just 1,667 words a day throughout the month!

Do it.

Be Brave. Kill Your Fear. Do it.

Have you done it yet?

Go! What are you waiting for? An invitation? Oh, wait, you just got one. Accept it!

And now your moment of Writing Zen:

“If I would not do something – right now – I would never get to live my dreams in waiting.”
― Gisela Hausmann “Naked Determination 41 Stories About Overcoming Fear”

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What did you Write today?
~Casz

“But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” ~ Lord Byron